Here are the biggest cases heard at Sheffield Crown Court over the last week

KAI SMITH: 60 years' jail for trio behind shooting which left mum with gunshot wound to face

Kai Smith, aged 19, was sentenced on Tuesday, March 29, for his involvement in a double-shooting that was carried out in the Manor area of Sheffield on January 6 last year.

Smith’s co-accused, Connor Hadi, 27, formerly of Toll Bar Avenue, Gleadless, Sheffield, and Bradley Jenkins, 30, formerly of Waverley View, Rotherham, were jailed for 27 years each in September last year, following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court in which jurors found the pair guilty of attempted murder and firearms offences.

Judge Peter Kelson QC sentenced Smith to six years in a young offenders’ institute for his involvement, bringing the trio’s jail time to a combined total of 60 years.

Prosecution barrister Jonathan Sandiford QC said on the evening of the shooting, Smith, along with Hadi and Jenkins, and a fourth, unidentified man, went searching for a 23-year-old man known to the group, armed with a shotgun and ammunition.

The group were travelling in a stolen black Nissan Qashqai, fitted with false plates; and after locating the man on Castledale Croft, shots were fired into the group of people he was with, hitting the mother of their intended target in the face and shoulder.

Their intended target was shot at a short time later and was hit in his arm.

Smith, of Villiers Close, Arbourthorne, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Hadi and Bradley were jailed previously after a jury at Sheffield Crown Court found them guilty of charges including attempted murder.

DAVID FOWLER: Man jailed for downloading ‘depraved’ and ‘wicked’ child abuse content

As he sent David Fowler to begin a 21-month prison sentence, Recorder Gurdial Singh told him: "That is the most disgusting video I’ve come across in 30 years of practice.”

During a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on April 1, the court heard how defendant David Fowler downloaded more than 7,000 images and videos showing babies and children being sexually abused.

One of the videos showed what Recorder Singh described as the ‘graphic rape’ of a baby whose legs were also burned during the ordeal.

“The pain that baby must have suffered cannot be imagined. Society’s disgust demands a deterrent sentence, given the sheer depravity of what was depicted,” Recorder Singh told Fowler and jailed him for 21 months.

Fowler denied the offences of making indecent images of children of Category A, which is the most serious category, B and C, prompting a trial at the court in January this year.

Recorder Singh said the images and videos were so ‘depraved’ and ‘wicked’ he made an order for them to be kept from jurors serving on the trial in order to ‘spare them the trauma’ of viewing the suffering of the victims captured in the content downloaded by Fowler.

Fowler, of Charnock Grove, Gleadless, denied downloading the images and claimed they must have been accidentally downloaded when he followed links shared by others in an online discussion about growing cannabis.

This account was rejected by jurors who found Fowler unanimously guilty, but the court heard that he has still maintained his innocence during meetings with the Probation Service.

ERIK KAREAKA: Man raided seven properties in space of 13 months

Sheffield Crown Court heard on April 4 how former homeless man Erik Kareaka, aged 27, now of Tideswell Road, Firth Park, Sheffield, admitted committing seven dwelling burglaries – including targeting two homes twice - and two non-dwelling burglaries at sheds which happened between August 2020 and September 2021.

The defendant, who has two previous convictions for dishonesty matters and suffers with learning difficulties, had come to the UK from Czechoslovakia and he had been homeless, according to the court.

Judge Rachael Harrison told Kareaka: “You were homeless in this country. Whoever you began to associate with you knew it was illegal to break into people’s houses.

“You went back to two of the houses and broke in again. You made your own decisions and you were prepared to lie to the police.”

Defence barrister Nadim Bashir said Kareaka is married with four sons in Czechoslovakia and he hopes they will be able to join him in the UK in the future when he plans to lead an “industrious life”.

Judge Harrison, who acknowledged Kareaka has had a difficult childhood and has shown signs of suffering with an emotional personality disorder, sentenced him to 40 months of custody.

She told him: "The consequences are that you are going to serve a long prison sentence.”

JAMIE WOODCOCK: Three years’ prison for ‘mean-spirited’ frauster

Sheffield Crown Court heard on April 4 how Jamie Woodcock, aged 36, of Cemetery Road, Barnsley, defrauded a nurse out of £440 for gardening work he never completed and he also defrauded two further customers out of £4,125 and over £500 for building work that was never done.

Judge Jeremy Richardson QC said Woodcock had also grabbed his partner and pinned her to a wall after she had refused to help him hire a vehicle and when she finally helped him to hire a Kia Sportage he stole the vehicle.

He told Woodcock: “Some of these crimes were very mean-spirited for which prison must be imposed.”

Woodcock, who has previous convictions, admitted the gardening fraud from the summer of 2020, the building frauds from between December, 2020, and February, 2021, using coercive and controlling behaviour against his partner and the theft of a vehicle between October and November, 2020.

He also admitted stealing scrap metal from December, 2020, and to breaching a previously imposed suspended prison sentence from August, 2020.

Judge Richardson sentenced Woodcock to three years of custody and made him subject to a five-year restraining order to protect his former partner.

JAKE JOHNSON: Jealous thug smashed man's skull with a Segway after finding him on sofa at ex-partner's home

Sheffield Crown Court heard during a remote video hearing on March 25 how Jake Johnson, aged 30, of Lancaster Street, Barnsley, struck his ex-partner with a mug and repeatedly struck a man who had been asleep on her sofa with a child’s Segway.

Nicola Quinney, prosecuting, said Johnson had turned up at his ex-partner’s home and when he found a man asleep on her sofa he punched him and struck him with a mug before also hitting his ex-partner with the mug as she tried to intervene.

Ms Quinney said: “This took place in the complainant’s home seemingly while the defendant has entered without permission in the middle of the night.”

Johnson, who has previous convictions for harassment, theft and criminal damage, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his ex-partner and to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to the man after the incident on October 23, 2021.

The defendant also admitted causing criminal damage after he had kicked in the brake light of his ex-partner’s car on September 19, 2021.

Defence barrister Chris Aspinall said Johnson had been homeless at 13 years old before he went into care and the defendant accepts he has a skewed view of relationships and has difficulties which need to be addressed.

Judge Sarah Wright sentenced Johnson to 42 months of custody and made him subject to a five-year restraining order.

STEPHEN JOYNES: Dad jailed after son is killed in dog attack

A father whose newborn son was killed by his “ferocious” dog was jailed for four years at Sheffield Crown Court.

Elon-Jase Ellis-Joynes was 12 days old when he was attacked by a Chow-Chow-Alsatian cross at his home on Welfare Road in Woodlands, Doncaster, on September 13, 2020.

A court heard that in the months before the baby's death, the dog had bitten one of Elon's older siblings and regularly escaped to get into neighbours' gardens.

In December last year, Elon's father Stephen Joynes, 36, pleaded guilty to a charge of being the owner of a dog which caused death when dangerously out of control.

Elon's mother Abigail Ellis, 28, was initially charged with the same offence but the case against her was dropped.

Edward Moss, representing Joynes, said he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his son's death and was having counselling.

He said: “What punishment could anyone give to this man that is greater than the punishment he has already been given, and will have for the rest of his life?”