Two burglars who stabbed a cannabis farmer, 21, to death and wounded his brother in botched raid to steal 200 plants worth nearly £100,000 are jailed for life

• Shaddai Smith, 32, and Jason Sebran, 38, handed life sentences at Old Bailey
• They were guilty of murdering 21-year-old Renato Geci in a botched burglary 
• Property on Granville Avenue was the base of a ‘sophisticated’ cannabis farm
• Sebran had ‘no morals about taking’ the cannabis as ‘they shouldn’t be doing it’ 

Two burglars who stabbed a cannabis farmer to death during a botched attempt to snatch nearly £100,000 of drugs have been jailed for life. 

Shaddai Smith, 32, and Jason Sebran, 38, were found guilty of murdering 21-year-old Renato Geci and wounding his brother Vilson Geci, 29, after they broke into a house in Hounslow, west London, on March 22 last year.

The Old Bailey heard that at least seven men went to a property on Granville Street after they learned of a ‘sophisticated’ base where 200 cannabis plants were being grown with an estimated value of £95,000. 

Today, the two killers were handed life sentences with a minimum term of 19 years. They were also jailed for six years for wounding and three more for burglary which run concurrent to their life sentences.

Jurors heard that Sebran had no remorse about attempting to burgle the Albanian’s property.

‘It’s not like I’m coming into someone’s house and nicking your TV and your video – it’s cannabis,’ he told officers.

‘They shouldn’t be doing it in the first place so I ain’t got no morals about taking it.’

Renato Geci (pictured) was murdered during a botched attempt to snatch almost £100,000 of drugs from a cannabis factory

Shaddai Smith (left), 32, and Jason Sebran (right), 38, were found guilty of murdering 21-year-old Mr Geci and wounding his brother Vilson Geci, 29, during the raid

But prosecutor Crispin Aylett KC said: ‘All the same, those men were not acting in the public interest. Instead they were in it for money.

‘An expert has suggested that the potential value of the cannabis could have been as much as £95,000.’

Judge Howard Crowson said that even though Smith delivered the fatal wound with a kitchen knife, Sebran provided ‘assistance and encouragement’, having restrained and stabbed Mr Geci with a screwdriver.

The judge told them: ‘In the event of a confrontation you were prepared to use lethal force to escape capture.

‘I am satisfied the intent was to kill, although the intent was only formed a short time before the fatal blow.’

The judge also noted the ‘profound’ effect on the victim’s family. 

The court heard that Smith and Sebran climbed through the bathroom window after climbing a ladder but soon found out that the Albanian brothers were home.

The eldest brother came to see what was going on but was confronted by the burglars who he believes sprayed him in the face with acid.

Forensic investigators at the scene on Granville Avenue following the botched burglary attempt in March, 2021 

Mr Aylett told jurors that a violent struggle broke out with Smith grabbing a knife from the kitchen and Sebran armed with a screwdriver.

‘Renato was stabbed to death with the knife as well as being stabbed with the screwdriver,’ he said.

‘As for Vilson, he was stabbed in the thigh with the knife and he also sustained a significant number of other injuries, albeit that most of them were fairly superficial.’

The killers fled back out through a window and went to ground. 

After his arrest, Smith, from Romford, admitted going to burgle the house and claimed he had come under attack.

Meanwhile Sebran, from Essex, told police that someone else had gone into the house while he waited outside in his car.

The court was told the pair had learned the premises on Granville Street (pictured) were being used as part of a ‘sophisticated’ operation involving the cultivation of what prosecutors say was up to £95,000 of cannabis

However, Vilson Geci’s description of one attacker’s tattoos matched letters and numbers on Sebran’s arms showing the names and birthdays of his two children.

The older brother also made a victim impact statement, which was read out in court, about how much he and his family missed their youngest, Renato.

In it, he said: ‘[As] an older brother my duty in this world was to protect him.

‘Renato I tried so hard if only I could turn back the clock.

‘Nobody could accept the fate that had been dealt us.

‘We could not comprehend that the youngest of our household was not going to be physically present anymore.

‘I feel his absence in every breath I take, every step I take.

‘We the Geci family have loved you baby Renato from the first beat of your heart until they stopped it.’

Smith and Sebran were handed life sentences at the Old Bailey (pictured) today where the judge ruled they were prepared to use ‘lethal force’ to escape capture

Jurors were told that both men had pleaded guilty to burglary but said they believed the premises to be unoccupied at the time.

Detective Inspector Garth Hall, from Scotland Yard, said: ‘Smith and Sebran’s claims that they believed the house they were entering was empty and that their intention was only to steal cannabis plants have been disproved by the jury.

‘Both men had ample opportunity to leave the property when they found Renato and another man inside – however, they were driven by greed and the profit they saw they could make from stealing the cannabis plants.

‘They decided to attack Renato, using lethal force as they overpowered him, and causing multiple injuries to their second victim before fleeing empty-handed.’

Four others have pleaded guilty to being party to a conspiracy to burgle and one has denied the charge, jurors heard. 

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