Four men jailed after teenager stabbed at Leeds party in case of 'mistaken identity'
17-year-old Trust Gangata was stabbed at a house in Armley in the early hours of Sunday 19th March
Last updated 18th Dec 2023
Four men have been jailed for stabbing and killing a teenager at a house party in Leeds, in a case of 'mistaken identity'.
Trust Gangata, 17, was attacked in the kitchen of the house in Armley, after masked men burst into the kitchen on 19 March.
One of the men, 20-year-old Karl Belinga, had been involved in a fight with another man at the party earlier in the evening.
He then recruited his friends, friends Paul Mbwasse and Karlson Ogie, both aged 19, and Brandon Paradzai, 20, to carry out an attack on the man he'd been arguing with.
Instead, the group stabbed Trust 15 times.
Paradzai, Ogie and Belinga handed themselves in later the same day and Mbwasse was arrested the following day at his address in Huddersfield.
They were subsequently charged with murder.
They pleaded not guilty but Belinga, Mbwasse and Ogie were found guilty of murder following a trial that concluded on November 30.
Paradzai was found not guilty of murder but was convicted of manslaughter.
Belings, Mbwasse and Ogie were jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years, while Brandon Paradzai was sentenced to 16 years in a young offenders institute.
He will serve two thirds of the sentence in custody.
Trust's mother, Anna Gangata said: “No parent should have to lose a child, but to lose a child suddenly, unexpectedly and finding out that your son has been murdered is indescribable.
“I should be able to watch TJ fall in love, fall out of love, go to university, get his first job, become accomplished, get married, buy his first home, have his own children, grow old.
"I am robbed of all those opportunities, all those milestones you should be able to watch your child achieve.
"Those responsible for his death have robbed me of those opportunities due to their motivation to seek revenge, to murder.
“If any good can come out of TJ’s death, I would ask that lessons are learnt, and no other parent must lose a son or daughter due to knife crime.
"Individuals need to stop arming themselves with weapons which can inflict such damage and devastation.