Two jailed after teen shot through letterbox in drug debt revenge attack

Two men who travelled from Bristol to Cardiff and shot a teenager through a letterbox with a double-barrelled shotgun, have been sentenced to over 14 years in prison.

Efekan Karahan, 18, from Bristol, walked up to the house in Pontprennau, Cardiff on 7 June at 19:36, and fired his shotgun twice, injuring the victim in the legs. He was sentenced to 8 years and 4 months.

His accomplice Ashley Fernando Corbin, 21, from Bristol, was waiting a short distance from the home while the shooting happened. He was sentenced to 6 years.

Newport Crown Court heard how the attack was part of an ongoing drugs feud involving a family member of the 15-year-old victim, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Clare Wilkins for prosecution said the 15-year-old was at home looking after his brother and went downstairs to make a cup of tea.

When he was in the kitchen, he heard a "massive bang" at the front door.

Wilkins said: "He went into the hallway and saw a figure through the glass in the front door, he immediately heard a gunshot and described the letterbox coming off. A second shot was fired which injured him. He moved around the corner, so he was no longer in sight."

The teenager went back upstairs to check on his brother and realised he was bleeding from his leg.

He looked out of the bedroom window and saw, Corbin recording Karahan on his phone. Both men were wearing balaclavas.

The court heard the teenager thought someone was "booting the door with full force" and was played the mobile footage and CCTV which showed Karahan slipping on the tiled entrance to the house and hitting the door.

After firing the shotgun through the letter box, the footage also showed him tripping over on a railing while running away from the scene.

Karahan lost control of the shotgun before retrieving it to run across the field to the stolen vehicle, which had cloned number plates.

The prosecution said the two defendants had travelled from Bristol to Cardiff to carry out the attack as part of an ongoing drugs feud involving a family member of the 15-year-old.

The victim called his older brother to say what had happened who arrived at the house shortly afterwards and tried to follow the two defendants in their vehicle.

He returned home and rang an ambulance for his younger brother who was described in court as "being pale and scared" after the shooting.

The court heard after an examination the teenager had 30 pellets in his left leg after the bullet ricocheted and injured him.

In defence, Ieuan Callaghan said Karahan had been a "victim of exploitation of criminal gangs in Bristol", adding he was "not a dangerous or sophisticated criminal".

While Ruth Smith defending Corbin said "he had been ripe for exploitation by drug gangs since being excluded from school at the age of 13".

The judge, Tracey Lloyd- Clarke said on sentencing Karahan: "You pulled the trigger, not once but twice that is not a lesser role", while describing Corbin as having "a pro-criminal attitude" and "dangerous".

Leighton Mawer of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: "The two defendants pre-planned their offending, including the use of a firearm, resulting in a person being seriously injured.

"When firearms are discharged, the consequences can often be fatal, but fortunately that was not the outcome in this instance."