Man in court on murder charge

Teenager Kyle Yule died from a stab wound after rival gangs clashed in Medway, a court heard.

Prosecutor Richard Cherrill told a judge at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday that the gangs were from Chatham and Gillingham.

Kyle was in a car in East Street in Gillingham on Friday, October 6, when it was “attacked” by other youths.

The 17-year-old, who lived in the town, suffered a wound just under his right armpit which hit an artery. He died in hospital the following morning.

The details emerged as Victor Maibvisira, 19, appeared by TV link with Elmley Prison, accused of Kyle’s murder.

Maibvisira, of St John’s Road, Gillingham, was arrested in London.

Mr Cherrill said there was CCTV of the incident and added it was likely that others would be charged with murder.

“One is in custody and six are on bail,” he said. “There are outstanding inquiries in relation to others.”

Maibvisira will enter a plea on November 14. Judge Jeremy Carey set a trial date for April 3 next year.

The teenager spoke only to be identified. Members of his family were in court for the brief hearing. A con woman duped prospective tenants out of more than £3,000, a court heard.

Between April and May 2016 Justina Steigvilaite showed victims around a flat in Parrock Street, Gravesend.

However, when the victims attempted to move into the property they found that Steigvilaite was not the landlord and a legal tenant was already present.

Appearing at Maidstone Crown Court last, week the 31-year-old, of Parkway in Erith, pleaded guilty to eight counts of fraud. She was jailed for two years.

The court heard that after advertising the room for rent in a local shop, Steigvilaite showed various people around and accepted deposits off five of them.

The money handed over varied between £200 and £1,200, and on some occasions was paid directly into the offender’s bank account.

Steigvilaite also admitted receiving more than £5,000 from the Department for Work and Pensions due to false representation.

The money was supposed to go to a person she was caring for, but she kept a majority of the funds and only made partial payments to the rightful recipient.

She also took out a bank loan in the name of another person and withdrew the funds from their account.

PC Colin Bassett, the investigating officer for the case, said: “Steigvilaite deceitfully gained over £3,000 from people who were looking for a place to live. “She caused a huge amount of stress to each of these victims.

“Further to this, she abused a position of trust to steal benefits payments meant for another person, and took out a bank loan with a false identity to gain even more money.

“The sentence received is entirely appropriate.”