Teenager locked up for manslaughter is freed on appeal
SENIOR JUDGES RULE ‘THIS WAS NOT A STRONG CASE AGAINST HIM’
A TEENAGER locked up after he was found guilty of the manslaughter of 17-year-old Ezekiel Clarke had his conviction quashed at the Court of Appeal after senior judges found “this clearly was not a strong case” against him.
Jaheim Williams was 19 when he was sentenced on August 24, 2020, to sevenand-a-half years in detention in a young offenders’ institution.
A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be identified due to his age, was found guilty at the same Nottingham Crown Court trial of murdering Ezekiel, who was stabbed to his heart, liver and lung.
The 16-year-old was also convicted of robbery and the possession of a bladed article in a separate incident.
He was given a life sentence in detention with a minimum term of 13 years to serve before he can apply for parole.
While appeal court judges found the conviction against the 16-year-old, who was not present or represented in court, was safe, they allowed the appeal on behalf of 20-year-old Mr Williams, of Trafalgar Close, Radford.
The Court of Appeal judgment on the decision reads: “It follows that we allow the appeal against conviction and, in the absence of any further evidence, by reason of our conclusion regarding the submission of no case to answer there can be no basis for a retrial”.
Points in the judges’ analysis included:
■ They were satisfied that the case should have been withdrawn from the jury at the close of the prosecution case (but it was not)
■ “It seems to us that at no stage at trial or subsequently have the prosecution satisfactorily established any act of (Mr) Williams which is capable of amounting to assisting or encouraging the stabber.”
■ There is no evidence of malice towards Ezekiel Clarke from the appellant, (Mr) Williams.
■ “This clearly was not a strong case against Williams.”
The hearing, before three senior judges at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand London, on June 21, 2021, referred to the facts of the case.
Ezekiel was stabbed on Churchfield Lane in Radford on February 19, 2020.
The prosecution case was that the 16-year-old stabbed him and Williams was an accessory.
The 16-year-old had approached Ezekiel, taken something from his jacket pocket, and moments later Ezekiel collapsed, having been fatally stabbed.
Two days before, the 16-year-old had committed a robbery at knifepoint, the Court of Appeal heard.
He lured a male into visiting a block of flats on the pretext of visiting an elderly man who lived there but, once out of sight of CCTV cameras, pulled a knife, robbed him and cut his ear, saying that the reason for the attack was because this victim had associated with “Y9” – which was Ezekiel’s nickname.
Mr Williams was not present nor involved in this incident, nor is there any evidence to suggest that he was aware of it before the trial, the Court of Appeal heard.
The day after the stabbing, Mr Williams voluntarily attended a police station although, by that stage, he had not been identified as a suspect.
The appeal heard he was arrested on suspicion of murder and interviewed on February 22, 2020. In a prepared statement he was provided with, Mr Williams said that he knew the deceased and had been bullied and assaulted by him but had never responded nor sought to cause him harm and there had been no recent issues between them.
At the conclusion of the appeal, the judgment read: “We note that Ezekiel’s family have attended Court today in deference to the memory of their loved one. We cannot imagine the grief that they continue to suffer in relation to the death of this young man who was knifed so brutally in the street in Nottingham.
“We know that they may be disappointed as to the result of the case in relation to Williams, but their presence has been dignified and respectful.”