Hammer-attack teens jailed for 'mistaken identity' flat robbery

Emanuel Mzoma and a 17-year-old who cannot be named because of his age were part of a gang that targeted the flat on Barden Road in Wakefield in the early hours of November 29 last year.

The occupier had returned from a late shift at work and had been asleep when the front-door buzzer was pressed to his flat.

Half asleep and thinking it was his girlfriend, he let them into the building, prosecutor Jess Butterell told Leeds Crown Court this week.

He then saw the 17-year-old through the spyhole on his flat door, but did not recognise him, so asked who he was and what he wanted as he opened the door slightly.

Demands were made for money and cannabis, but the terrified occupier told them he was not involved with drugs.

The occupier then saw two other males standing nearby, including Mzoma.

He asked them to leave but they became aggressive and tried to force open his door.

A small glass hammer was then used to hit the occupier through the half-opened door which cut his forearm.

The three then went through his flat continuing to demand money and drugs. They eventually left, after stealing his iPhone, a pouch of rolling tobacco and kitchen knives.

They warned him not to contact the police or they would return.

However, he did phone 999 and was able to identify the 17-year-old as the one who attacked him with the hammer.

The youngster gave largely no comments during his police interview, but did claim he had been wrongly identified.

He was later found guilty of aggravated robbery after a trial.

Mzoma, of Rutland Avenue, Wakefield, admitted the offence and despite realising it was the wrong flat, they continued with the robbery to “see what they could get”.

A victim impact statement was read out to the court which said the occupier had been left traumatised by the robbery in his own home, and now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Read out by Miss Butterell, she said: “The flashbacks render me useless at times. You have left me scared, petrified and anxious.

"I have PTSD and have to go to counselling every month.”

The court was told that the 17-year-old has a long history of violent convictions with weapons and was subject a youth rehabilitation order at the time of this latest offence.

Mitigating, Glenn Parsons said he was then only 16 and has mental health issues that “plainly affects his behaviour”.

Ismael Uddin, mitigating for Mzoma, who was being held on remand at HMP Doncaster, said: "He holds up his hands. He was a youth at the time and it’s led him to a place where he will serve a custodial sentence.

“He accepts his fate, that it will be in years and not months."

Mzoma has a previous conviction for violence.

Judge Rodney Jameson KC gave each defendant four years’ detention.