CPS issues statement after murder case collapses at Sheffield Crown Court

Isaiah Usen-Satchell, aged 18, died after he suffered a slash wound to his arm close to his home in the Norfolk Park area of Sheffield on New Year’s Day 2020.

The university student, who studied in Leeds, was found injured in St Aidan’s Road and was taken to hospital but could not be saved.

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Twin brothers Isaac and Jacob Mwanza, both aged 19 and of Rother View Road, Canklow, Rotherham, were charged over the death and went on trial accused of murder and manslaughter.

Last month, Judge Peter Kelson QC directed jurors to find both men not guilty of murder and to find Jacob not guilty of manslaughter due to insufficient evidence.

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Isaac’s manslaughter trial continued but he too was acquitted this week after the Crown Prosecution Service reviewed the case and offered no further evidence.

South Yorkshire Police said the investigation into the killing has ‘now concluded,’ with the case now closed.

The Mwanza brothers denied committing murder and said they had acted in self-defence, claiming Isaiah had jumped out of bushes at them with a blade.

Isaac’s girlfriend had been in a brief relationship with Isaiah and tensions were said to have been running high on the night of the killing.

In a statement after the collapse of the case, the CPS said: “The CPS has a duty to keep all our cases under constant review. It is our role to put a case before a jury, where we have decided there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction. It is not our role to decide on innocence or guilt.

“Following the evidence given by the second defendant, Jacob Mwanza, and after consultation with counsel and with the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Court, it was decided to stop this case.

“In his comments, Judge Kelson QC stated that we were entirely correct to put the case before the court; and that, having heard the evidence given by the second defendant, the CPS acted entirely appropriately in stopping this case.”

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