Siblings jailed for life for ‘truly sickening’ cannabis row knife murder
Bank worker Mya Marsh and her brother Isaiah were told the killing of drug-dealer Minister Enfrence was ferocious, terrifying and unprovoked.
A brother and sister who murdered a drug dealer in a daylight knife attack caught on CCTV after a row about a £200 cannabis debt have both been jailed for life.
Bank worker Mya Marsh, 23, and 21-year-old Isaiah Marsh were each ordered to serve a term of 20 years by a judge at Birmingham Crown Court.
The siblings were found guilty by a jury on Monday of the murder of 21-year-old Minister Enfrence, who died of at least 12 serious knife wounds after Mya called her brother to the scene.
A three-week trial was told Mr Enfrence did not appear to behave in a threatening way during his initial dealings with Mya, who was trying to buy drugs in the Medway Grove area of Kings Norton, Birmingham.
The court heard Mya had been given the morning off work at the time of the killing, having informed her employer of mental health problems.
Passing sentence on the pair on Thursday, Judge Simon Drew KC said the attack at about 10am on November 5 last year had been ferocious and happened after Mya took a kitchen knife to the scene.
The judge told the female defendant, who appeared via a video-link to HMP Foston Hall in Derbyshire: “Mya, at the time of your arrest you were a user of cannabis.
“One of your drugs dealers was Minister. It was that relationship, and the tensions within it, that ultimately led to his death.
“I do not shy away from the fact that he was a drugs dealer who was carrying a knife on the day he died, but in no way should that be thought to justify the circumstances or manner of his death.
“He was stabbed repeatedly but he did not die instantly. In obvious pain he was able to escape from you and he tried to get help.”
The judge added that CCTV footage of the killing was “truly sickening” to watch and said Mr Enfrence had suffered a “traumatic and painful death” – with his life “ended in a terrifying and violent way”.
Isaiah, the judge said, had “launched a ferocious attack on Minister as he lay defenceless on his back on the floor” and had clearly intended to kill.
The judge told both defendants: “This was an attack by two people on one. That attack was unprovoked.
“Members of the public, including a child in a pushchair, passed very close by while the attack was taking place.
“I have concluded that the appropriate minimum terms in each of your cases are the same. I have kept them to the very minimum in accordance with my public duty.”
The jury which unanimously convicted the siblings was shown CCTV footage of Mya passing a knife to Isaiah during the stabbing.
After the killing, the court heard, Mya went to her workplace “as if nothing had happened” and slept at a different address in the evening, while Isaiah told police he had lost his phone when he handed himself in.
Mr Enfrence suffered wounds to his body, arms, hands and head and died of his injuries near the scene after attempting to escape.
The defendants, both of Teviot Grove, Kings Norton, both denied murder and alternative charges of manslaughter.
Isaiah claimed he acted in self-defence, while his sister said she did not believe her brother would use the knife to stab the victim.
Offering mitigation for Mya, Rachel Brand KC said the offending was “utterly out of character” and that her client had shouted “stop it” and “break it up” during the fatal struggle.
Michael Ivers KC, representing Isaiah, said: “He finds it almost impossible to reconcile what he saw on the CCTV with who he is.
“He has told everyone who will listen when they have spoken to him that he is full of remorse about what happened.”
