Man kidnaps 15-year-old boy and demands that he give him PlayStation 5 to pay off his debts

A man kidnapped a 15-year-old boy he had recruited to sell cannabis for him and pressured him to hand over a games console to pay off his debt.

Taona Mtolo had claimed the teenager owed him £320.

The 20-year-old was armed with a knife and forced the teenager to return to his house. There, the boy said he had a PlayStation 5 that he could give him as payment.

It was there that the teenager's older brother was eventually stabbed to death after first being confronted by the masked thug in the Midlothian home on April 5 last year.

The injured brother was only able to escape by fleeing the property in his boxer shorts.

First-time offender Mtolo was remanded in custody after admitting his guilt in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.

His verdict will be announced next month.

Prosecutor Eric Robertson described how Mtolo, from Buckstone in Edinburgh, was involved in the small-scale cannabis trade.

The 15-year-old and a 13-year-old friend helped him sell the drug.

The students eventually smoked some of the cannabis, but told Mtolo that they had been robbed.

Mtolo said the couple had five days to “repay the debt.”

The older boy's mother learned of the demands and called the police.

This then led to Mtolo later confronting the teenager for “snitching to the authorities.”

Mtolo then showed the frightened boy that he had a knife with him.

Mr Robertson said: “He wanted to know where his house was and threatened that if he didn't show it to him he would be fined.”

Mtolo and his companions then went with the boy.

The teenager's brother was initially asleep before he heard unfamiliar male voices in the house.

Mtolo stormed into his room, blade in hand, shouting that he was owed cash. One of his colleagues joined him.

When the brother tried to escape, he was grabbed by the neck and then repeatedly hit on the body.

Mr Robertson said: “He managed to free himself … and ran out of the house wearing only his underwear.”

“He went to a neighbor's property. He felt something on his lower back and thought he had been stabbed.”

The victim, whose phone was also stolen, suffered two wounds but fortunately was not seriously injured.

Mtolo was tracked down that night. A hunting knife was found under a nearby bush.

The weapon contained his DNA as well as that of the young man who was stabbed.

Mtolo pleaded guilty to assaulting and kidnapping the 15-year-old.

He also admitted to attacking and robbing the boy's brother at the risk of his life and stealing cannabis.

Mtolo also pleaded guilty to stabbing another man outside a supermarket on South Clerk Street in Edinburgh on June 26 last year, causing serious injury, permanent disfigurement and endangering his life.

Mtolo had been released on bail but was remanded in custody by Judge Lord Clark as sentencing was postponed following reports.