Teenagers appear in court over riot sparked by fatal e-bike accidents

Tensions boiled over in the borough of Ely after Kyrees Sullivan (16) and Harvey Evans (15) died on the evening of May 22, 2023 when they crashed an e-bike, just minutes after CCTV recorded them being pursued by a South Wales Police van.

Clashes broke out between local residents and police officers, leading to hours of riots in which dozens of police officers were injured, property was damaged and cars were set on fire.

The 13 adults and juveniles appeared before Cardiff Magistrates Court on Friday and were charged with offences related to the event.

The adults who appeared were Lee Robinson, 37, of Cardiff, who is charged with rioting; Janine Reffell, 53, of Ely, Cardiff, who is charged with criminal damage; Morgan Williams, 18, of Pentwyn, Cardiff, who is charged with threatening criminal damage; Jayden Williams, 18, of Grangetown, Cardiff, who is charged with threatening criminal damage and McKenzie Pring, 19, who appeared via video link from HMP Parc and is charged with rioting.

The young people, whose names cannot be mentioned for legal reasons, are between 15 and 17 years old.

Seven of the youths were charged with rioting, but they all pleaded not guilty.

One of them was charged with threatening to commit property damage and pleaded guilty.

Belinda Sullivan and Nadine Evans, the mothers of Kyrees Sullivan and Harvey Evans, were in court for the hearing on Friday.

District Judge Stephen Harmes scheduled a five-day trial for the youths for December 16.

All defendants were granted unconditional bail except Pring, who remains in HMP Parc.

Reffell and twins Morgan and Jayden Williams pleaded guilty to their crimes, while the others did not confess.

District Judge Stephen Harmes told the court that Reffell had pleaded guilty to damaging a Peugeot 308 police vehicle causing damage valued at less than £5,000.

She will appear in court again on November 26 to hear the verdict.

He said: “You caused deliberate damage to the rear window on the day of the riots in an adjacent street, away from the rest of the riots.”

Twins Morgan and Jayden Williams, both 18, pleaded guilty to threatening to commit property damage.

The court heard one of the twins said: “Your station, your police station is going to be blown up tonight. That’s on my brother’s grave.”

One said that “police cars would be allowed through” and one said that “police cars would be blown up, yes”.

The court heard that the twins had reported themselves to South Wales Police.

District Judge Harmes remanded all adult cases to Cardiff Crown Court on 21 October.

The hearing comes after 17 more people appeared before the magistrates’ court on Thursday on charges of rioting, with all cases being referred to Cardiff Crown Court on October 21.