Two brothers who shot innocent law student in face at random facing jail
Two brothers who shot an innocent law student in the face at random as he returned home from a night out in south London are facing jail.
Drill rapper Janiah Johnson-White, 25, and Jamal Johnson-White, 24, sped away from the drive-by attack in a stolen Astra which crashed into another car with a 10-year-old child and his family inside.
The pair fled from the scene but accidentally left behind a change of clothing in the vehicle, which police used to identify them.
An iPhone recovered from Janiah was found to contain drill music lyrics in his notes that read: “I had 2 slap dat dots out da ride.”
A shotgun had been fired through a car window at the 20-year-old who stopped to speak to people near his home near West Croydon train station on August 1 last year, Inner London Crown Court heard.
Janiah Johnson-White was the gunman in the passenger seat while his younger brother was the driver.
The victim suffered a number of pellets to his cheek, forehead and eye, leaving him with blurred vision and a bloodied face.
He fell to the ground and was rushed to hospital at 1.30am with a possible life-changing facial injuries.
Jamal was arrested in a police stop along Brighton Road, Croydon on November 7.
Two days later, Janiah was detained on the same road after he was spotted by officers speeding through backstreets late at night during the national lockdown.
Janiah and Jamal were convicted of wounding with intent and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. Jamal was also found guilty of dangerous driving. Sentencing will take place on September 16.
Richard Partridge, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a random shooting that could have had devastating consequences for the victim. It is with sheer luck that this young man did not lose his vision.
“Janiah Johnson-White and Jamal Johnson-White were two brothers intent on violence.
“But they were caught out after their DNA was found on the airbags activated on the stolen car they crashed.
“The prosecution was also able to present further forensic evidence from the clothes they left behind in the car.
“During the trial these brothers claimed that they had been in another part of the country at the time of the shooting and that their clothes had been stolen from their home in a burglary – but the jury saw through these lies and convicted these men.
“Gun crime is a scourge on our communities and the CPS will always seek to work with the police to root out offenders and prosecute them where there is the evidence to do so.”
