A COVENTRY teen who murdered 21-year-old Emmanuel Lukenga bragged about the killing on Snapchat.
Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Lukenga died from a single stab wound as he climbed a garden fence in Canley, Coventry.
Enroy Ruddock, 19, will be sentenced today after guilty verdict, at Warwick Crown Court.
Ruddock left Manny to bleed to death after inflicting “a gaping wound” with a “rambo-style knife”
Two others, Bradley Richardson, aged 23, and Matthew Brankin, aged 19, from Thimbler Road, were found guilty of murder.
After the killing, Ruddock, from Melbourne Road, filmed himself boasting of his responsibility for Manny’s death on his phone.
Posting on social media app Snapchat, he said: “Should have seen the way that I kweffed him, man.”
Emmanuel Lukenga was the father of a young child with another on the way, when he died from a single stab wound in a garden after climbing a fence to escape his attackers in June last year.
Enroy boasts of Mann’y murder on Snapchat
Manny, from Cavendish Road in Tile Hill, had been involved in long standing feuds between rival estates in Canley and Tile Hill which escalated on June 12 2019.
Manny and his friends had been seen in Canley and rivals took exception to this.
On a stolen motorbike, Kyle Kinchen and pillion passenger Enroy Ruddock − carrying a petrol can – set off along with Matthew Brankin and Bradley Richardson in a Berlingo van to seek retribution. They found the red Astra Manny had been seen driving in Milrose Way and set it alight.
Minutes later the van and the motorbike were still driving around Tile Hill when they spotted two of Manny’s friends, who ran into a local convenience store on Frisby Road. CCTV from the shop showed Richardson – the passenger in the Berlingo – carrying a large axe and Ruddock holding something behind his back. Unable to attack the two in the shop, they returned to their vehicles and drove off.
The van and the bike caught up with Manny and his friends again as they tried to escape down an alleyway between Tile Hill Lane and Gravel Hill. The Berlingo was seen driving down the alleyway, damaging the van and coming to a stop where passengers Ruddock and Richardson gave chase on foot.
Security footage analysed by police showed how Manny and his friends fled into gardens, as frightened residents looked on.
Richardson axed down a gate and seconds later Ruddock caught up with Manny in Franklin Grove as he tried to climb a fence and stabbed him just once. The wound severed a vital artery and, although police and ambulance colleagues tried desperately to save him, Manny died at the scene.
Later the same day a Snapchat video was shared online by Ruddock, with his face covered by an emoji, bragging about how he had stabbed Manny after his friends had left him.
Detective Chief Inspector Scott Griffiths, from West Midlands police homicide unit, explained: “Ruddock was wearing a motorcycle helmet ahead of Manny’s murder so we tracked back to earlier in the day where he had met Kinchen, who had given him the helmet.
“Using witness statements we were able to piece all their movements together both before and after the attack. Although they had tried to cover their tracks we found the bike, a petrol canister used to torch the Astra and clothing – all had been burned.
“Significantly we found a large Rambo knife discarded in a brook which matched the damage caused to Manny’s clothing.
“It was clear from the outset that the three convicted were intent on causing serious harm to Manny and his friends that day.”
Ruddock, Richardson, Brankin and Kinchen all pleaded guilty to arson at an earlier hearing and they are set to be sentenced today (January 31) after the guilty verdicts.
DCI Griffiths added: “Our thoughts are with Manny’s family as, once again, we see the desperate sadness that knife crime brings, not just to the victim’s family, but those affected by the perpetrator’s actions.
“We have worked tirelessly to educate young people about the consequences of carrying knives and the impact on young lives. We are also working with our communities in Coventry to understand the tensions that sit behind the violence that flares up, seemingly out of trivial disputes.”
