An 18-year-old man from Salford has been sentenced to nine years in prison after stabbing and killing a 14-year-old boy.
The teen, Carlos Neto, was found guilty of manslaughter after the 14-year-old boy was fatally stabbed in a gang-related attack in Newcastle.
The 14-year-old boy, Gordon Gault, was slashed on the arm with a machete as he rode on the back of a friend’s e-bike in Newcastle’s West End in November 2022.
Gordon sadly died six days later in hospital.
Six teenagers went on trial at Newcastle Crown Court and were cleared of murder, but Carlos and 18-year-old Lawson Natty (of Newbiggin Hall, Newcastle) were convicted of manslaughter.
Natty was the one who supplied Neto with the machete he had bought online.
Mr Justice Martin Spencer sentenced Neto to nine years and two months while Natty, who was born in Belgium, was sentenced to 32 months, after which he could face deportation.
The judge said a feud had simmered between Neto’s gang, who had an interest in drill music, and rival youths in Elswick.
At the sentencing, he said: “This is a pernicious genre of music in that it tends to glorify violence.”
Neto said he was inspired by rappers and their lifestyle, their money, fame, cars and watches.
He liked the rappers’ masculine image and the respect they earned, telling jurors during his trial: “Without these things, my chances of success were zero.”
The judge said the young man could not have been “more wrong”, and with maturity he will see that.
The 14-year-old’s mother read a victim impact statement to the court, urging people not to carry knives. She wept as she said: “The devastation your actions cause is unimaginable.”
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