Half-brother Dwight Freeman detained indefinitely for stabbing MMA champion to death at birthday party

The brother of a mixed martial arts champion has been jailed indefinitely for stabbing him to death at his 30th birthday party.

Jahreau Shepherd, nicknamed The Nightmare, was killed by his 19-year-old half-brother, Dwight Freeman, while celebrating with friends in Kennington, south London, on July 11, 2020.

Freeman fled to Newquay in Cornwall, where he was arrested five days later.

He pleaded guilty last month to the manslaughter of Mr Shepherd by diminished responsibility and to intentionally injuring 26-year-old Joel Belgrave.

A judge today ordered him to be hospitalized without a time limit.

Friends and family packed the court as prosecutor Caroline Carberry QC said Mr Shepherd was an “accomplished” MMA fighter who lived with his mother and Freeman – also known as DJ.

She said Mr Shepherd acted as a father figure to his younger brother and wanted him to “get well and get better” and “stop smoking skunk cannabis”.

The court heard the MMA fighter had been “physically imposing” at times and there were problems between the two men.

In the six months before the murder, the defendant suffered from mood swings and had “terrified” his mother when she woke up to find him staring at the foot of her bed.

She asked him to see his GP, but he was unable to attend.

On July 11, Mr Shepherd held a birthday party and barbecue in a park, hosting around 60 people who were told the dress code was to wear white.

Around 10 p.m., numerous friends saw Freeman, dressed in black and with his hood up, carrying out a “terrifying, sustained and unprovoked attack with one or more large knives”, Ms Carberry said.

Witnesses described various weapons, including a machete, a large “zombie” knife and a samurai sword.

Mr Shepherd was heard saying: “I love you. What are you doing?”

He also raised his hands appealing to his brother, saying: “I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Don't do this,” the court was told.

Mr Shepherd suffered 13 injuries, including to his back, shoulder, thigh, face and stomach, with the two fatal wounds being approximately 19cm deep.

The accused only stopped when a bottle was thrown at him, causing him to drop one of the weapons.

Mr Belgrave, a friend of the welterweight fighter, tried to intervene and was also stabbed, suffering a punctured lung.

Freeman fled the scene, throwing a knife under a car and fleeing to the West Country.

Before his arrest in Cornwall, he disguised himself as dying and shaving his hair and booked a room under a false name.

The court heard that Freeman has now been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Dr Emmanuel Okoro said the teenager's mental illness had “played a significant role in the offences”.

Judge Richard Marks QC told the accused: “At the party, for reasons which are not clear, you had armed yourself with two-bladed items, one of which was either a machete or a large zombie knife.

“You attacked your brother with one or more weapons.

“You did it in a ferocious manner, causing no less than 13 stab wounds.

“You displayed such a degree of violence towards your brother that we can only conclude that your intention was to kill him.

“The severity of the injuries were such that he was unsurvivable and he was pronounced dead at the scene.”

The judge noted that Freeman was a habitual user of skunk cannabis, which may have contributed to his illness.

He said: “This is obviously a very tragic case, particularly as, in the six months before the events, your mother had given you a number of appointments with your GP, but you did not attend. didn't show up, thinking there was nothing wrong with you.”