SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing Lord Mulholland said:

“Running with a gang and arming yourself with a knife is asking for trouble, if you have a knife in your possession then it is there to be used, as you did during the gang fight in Greenfield Park. You stabbed your victim with your knife. The knife penetrated his heart, and he lost his life as a result. You will have to live with that for the rest of your life.

I told you before that you have delivered a life sentence of grief and profound loss to your victim’s family.  I have read the letters and victim statements handed to me, and they are heartbreaking, describing their loss, what their son and family member meant to them and the effect that their loss has had on all their own lives.

Your own family will have to deal with the shame of what you did. You have caused all of this.

Social media can be a force for good, but in the lead up to the events in Greenfield Park, it was not a force for good as it was a means by which threats of violence were made, culminating in the gang fight in Greenfield Park.

I described this previously as utter madness, and I stand by that description.

You have devastated many lives as a result of what you did.

It is important that you and others affected by your actions know the basis of how I have approached sentence. I require to apply the law set out in the Young Persons sentencing guidelines and in judgments of the Appeal court. I am bound by these precedents.

In CA v HMA [2024] HCJAC 29, the former Lord Justice Clerk, Lady Dorian, who was formerly the chair of the Scottish Sentencing Council, stated:

'That sentencing of a young person is a different exercise from that of sentencing an adult. This is specifically recognised in para 3 of the Sentencing Young People Guideline issued by the Scottish Sentencing Council. This is particularly so because a young person will generally have a lower level of maturity, and a greater capacity for change and rehabilitation, than an older person. In sentencing a young person, particular regard should be had to the maturity of the young person; and rehabilitation (para 9). In addition, the best interests of the young person should be considered in every case and must be a primary consideration when the young person is under the age of 18 (para 8).' 

In HMA v EK 2025 HCJAC 10, which was a case where a 15 year old boy was sentenced for culpable homicide, the now Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Beckett, delivering the opinion of the court said, at paragraph 18, the following:

'[18] On the other hand, the respondent was a young offender, 15 at the time of the crime and when sentence was passed, and fell to be treated differently from a person aged 25 or over. Given his age, any sentence should be less than would be imposed on an adult. He has greater prospects of rehabilitation than an older person and is to be regarded as less culpable. As someone under the age of 18, his best interests are a primary consideration. These principles have been recognised in the judgments of this court for over 20 years …'

I wouldn’t normally quote law in a sentencing statement. I have done so in order that everyone affected by this sentence should have a greater understanding of the approach I have to take in deciding the appropriate sentence here.

So, what are the factors that I have taken into account in deciding on sentence?

These are in no set order of importance.

First, your age both at the date of the homicide and at sentence. It is clear that given your age and the background information I have been provided with, you have a lower level of maturity.

Second, the circumstances of the crime, namely stabbing another human being through the heart with a knife.

Third, the context in which you took your victim’s life, namely a gang fight in a public park in Glasgow whereby you and many of the members of both gangs were armed.

Fourth, that your attendance with others at Greenfield Park was pre-arranged through taunts and threats of violence exchanged on social media.

Fifth, the profound effect of what you did on the family of your victim.

Sixth, that your victim was himself armed with a knife and inflicted injuries on you. I note that the Crown accepted your plea of guilty to culpable homicide on the basis of provocation.

Seventh, your antecedents as set out in the Criminal Justice Social Work Report and other reports.

Eighth, your potential for rehabilitation and capacity for change.

Taking all these factors together, had you not pled guilty when you did, I would have sentenced you to seven years and six months’ detention.

Taking account of the timing of your plea of guilty, I sentence you to 5 years’ detention.

I order that the sentence should run from 3 June 2024, the date that you were first ordered into custody by the court for this matter.

Given your age and a sentence of detention having been imposed, section 208 (1) of the 1995 requires the Scottish Minsters to exercise their powers to direct the place and conditions of your detention.”