5 days Ago By [email protected] (Sophie Corcoran)
Echos of gunshots fill the air in a Sheffield street as a gunman opens fire on a beloved dad he believes to be someone else. Sat atop a bicycle, Jake Brown holds his arm aloft. Bang.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Four gunshots. One hit and killed beloved dad-of-two Kevin Pokuta. Unknown to Brown, the people inside the car are not the ones who drove at him earlier on the night of December 12, 2023, as he and his mates tried to rob a cannabis farm.
Instead, it is Kevin and his brother. Completely innocent. Unknown to Brown.
Just passing through Page Hall Road. Brown was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 36 years at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday, December 16. He was previously found guilty of murder, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, conspiracy to rob, two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
His co-defendants, Lester Ramsey, 25, formerly of Skelton Close, Leon Waite, 27, formerly of Denholme Close, Adam Mulligan, 33, of High Hazel Crescent, and a 17-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted of conspiracy to rob. The Honourable Mr Justice Lavender told the court as he passed sentence on Monday: "Shortly before midnight on 11th December, 2023, five of you with others went to Barretta Street. You, Adam Mulligan, remained in your van.
The rest went into Page Hall Road with the intent of stealing cannabis from 109. "You Jake Brown were in possession of a firearm. I sentence the others on the basis you were unaware he had that one.
You were prevented [from robbing the cannabis] when a car drove at you and you Jake Brown discharged the firearm. "You Jake Brown and two others later went back with a different firearm and saw what you mistakenly thought was the car from earlier and fired four bullets. "One hit Kevin Pokuta in the back of the head.
He had nothing to do with the cannabis farm at the address. You Jake Brown didn't know him and you had nothing against him. It was a tragedy you fired up, no doubt, with the desire for revenge and mistook him for the man who drove at you earlier.
"He left behind a wife, two small children and two brothers, one who witnessed his death, and a mother and a father who died shortly after." Following the sentencing hearing, South Yorkshire Police released the eerie footage of Brown shooting Kevin. The short clip is a hard watch for anyone, least of all those who knew Kevin.
In a victim impact statement read to the court on Monday, a family spokesperson described Kevin as a "shy family man" who was "so funny, so respectful of his family." The court heard his children have now moved back to Slovakia. His father died in April and his mother has been unable to return to the family home.
The spokesperson said: "He was a good soul who had his whole life in front of him. The family will miss him so much. He was a shy family man but was so funny, so respectful of his family.
Kevin will be loved and missed forever." For them, justice has finally been handed down but their grief for Kevin will last forever. Get all the latest big and breaking Yorkshire news straight to your mobile via WhatsApp by clicking here .
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