Credit: South Yorkshire Police
This is the moment a gunman opened fire on a car, killing an innocent father of two in a case of “mistaken identity”.
Jake Brown, 23, shot five times at a car containing 19-year-old Kevin Pokuta, believing that it was a vehicle that belonged to cannabis growers that he had earlier tried to rob.
CCTV footage has been released showing the moment that Brown opened fire on the vehicle.
In the clip, Brown can be seen approaching the parked car, at which point it starts to rapidly reverse to try and escape. However, Brown then opens fire on the vehicle, repeatedly shooting at it as it drives away.
Pokuta, a father of two young children, was fatally wounded after being shot in the back of the head. His brother Dominik, who was also in the car, was unharmed.
Paramedics took Pokuta to Northern General Hospital but his injury was deemed medically inoperable.
He was taken off life support on Dec 13 2023 and died shortly afterwards.
Pokuta was a father of two young children
Sheffield Crown Court heard that Brown mistook the car for one that belonged to cannabis growers that he had earlier tried to rob.
He was jailed for life for Pokuta’s murder on Monday with a minimum term of 36 years.
The killing came after a group of 10 men failed to rob a cannabis farm on Dec 11 2023 after the farmers confronted the group and defended themselves.
A grey VW Passat, which the prosecution said had been carrying one of the farmers, drove directly at one of the group members, knocking him off his bike.
Soon after, Brown shot at the car in retaliation, the court was told.
During the trial, John Harrison KC, prosecuting, said it appeared that “most of the group wanted to take revenge following the confrontation” and so went searching for the car with the intention to “shoot the occupants”.
Half an hour later, after the group had broken up and left the area, Brown had equipped himself with a different pistol and returned to the street looking for revenge.
At 12:20am, he spotted another similar silver-grey car and believed that it was the same one belonging to the cannabis farmers.
He pulled alongside the car and fired five shots into the car before riding away.
Brown was jailed for life for Pokuta’s murder – South Yorkshire Police/SWNS
During the sentencing, Mr Justice Lavender said: “Kevin Pokuta had nothing to do with the cannabis farm. You did not know him and had nothing against him.
“It’s a tragedy that you, no doubt fired up with your desire for revenge, mistook him for the wrong person. No sentence I can pass will ever make up for the loss of Kevin.”
Brown did not take the stand to defend himself during his trial and was unanimously found guilty of murder by a jury in November.
He was also found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, attempted grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to rob.
Three other men – Lester Ramsey, 25, Leon Waite, 26 and Adam Mulligan, 33 – were also found guilty of conspiracy to rob. They were also jailed for a total of 12 years.
A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also found guilty of conspiracy to rob. He was handed a youth rehabilitation order lasting two years and ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work.