The youth, who was only 14 at the time of the incident, hugged his father after he was convicted of attempted murder
A teenager who stabbed a 15-year-old boy 11 times was found guilty of attempted murder this week following a trial which contained a number of “unusual features”. Due to the age of the defendant, who is also 15 and cannot be named for legal reasons, several special measures were taken which differentiated the week-long case from the normal process in front of a jury at Liverpool Crown Court.
Firstly, the youth was allowed to sit on the back row of the counsel benches in courtroom 31 rather than being made to enter the dock. He was typically flanked by three members of staff from the youth detention facility where he is currently being held in custody, with his dad having also been seated beside him during the case.
The boy was also referred to and addressed by his first name in court. Meanwhile, both the prosecution and defence barristers, as well as the judge, wore suits rather than their traditional robes and did not don their usual wigs.
While most defendants under the age of 18 are usually dealt with by youth courts, this case was instead dealt with in the crown court due to the seriousness of the charges faced. Addressing the jury at the outset of the case, Judge Neil Flewitt KC explained the steps taken by saying: “There are one or two slightly unusual features about this case. [The defendant] is now 15. He was only 14 at the time of the incident that we are going to be considering.
“He is standing trial in the crown court, rather than the youth court, because of the serious nature of the charges that he faces. Because of his age, we are not wearing the normal robes that you might have expected us to be wearing.
“For the same reason, he is not sitting in the dock, which, as you can see, can be a rather foreboding place. He is sitting on the back row of the seats. He is sitting there with two chaperones and his dad. I am sure that you can understand the arrangements we make for somebody of that age are quite different than the arrangements we would make for an adult.”
Jurors were played CCTV of the incident during the trial, with footage showing the defendant and a friend approaching the victim, his 14-year-old girlfriend and a second girl at a bus stop on Whitefield Drive in Kirkby on the evening of April 30 this year. The schoolboy victim armed himself with a bottle, which had been discarded on the floor, before saying: “Which one yous? I’ll f***ing bury the both of yous. What? What? What? I’ll stab you to bits. What? What? What?”
However, as he advanced towards the second boy, the defendant was seen to approach him from behind before launching his attack with a knife, which he appeared to have produced from his waistband. The video captured a series of screams as the then 14-year-old inflicted the stab wounds and kicked his victim in the head while shouting: “Stupid b****rd. Stupid c***. Stupid little c***. Little t**t.”
A girl was then heard shouting “you’ve stabbed [the female victim’s name]” as the youth and his friend ran away. The injured boy was left with a total of 11 stab wounds following the incident, including injuries to his liver and kidney.
His girlfriend was stabbed through the lung. Both required surgery under general anaesthetic as a result of their injuries, but made good recoveries.
The stabbing was said to have followed an earlier altercation in an area known as the Alt, off nearby Tithe Barn Lane, during which the injured boy was alleged to have thrown a metal pole at a second friend of the defendant. He was taken to hospital for treatment to a cut to his forehead following this initial incident.
The defendant, who has no previous convictions, was arrested at his home shortly after 9.30pm the same evening. He later told detectives that he had “never met [the other boy] before” when interviewed the following day.
Arthur Gibson, prosecuting, also read a series of statements from witnesses to jurors, with Michael Pugh, the licensee of the nearby Johnny Todd pub, saying in his account: “At approximately half past eight, a member of the public, who I don’t know, entered the pub and stated ‘two kids have been stabbed outside the pub’. I’ve reacted by grabbing the first aid pack and the stab pack that the pub has behind the bar for emergencies. I’ve seen a young female, who I’ve seen being helped by Paula Pierce, the bar manager.
“I’ve seen a young male being helped by an old man, who I don’t know. I’ve run to the young male, who had towels and jackets pressed to his side. I checked the back of the male and noticed three puncture wounds. I told the old gentleman to keep pressure on the dressings.
“There was blood dripping onto my leg. It was coming from his arm. I noticed three stab wounds. I dressed the young male’s arm and maintained pressure onto it.
“I noticed the young man go dead grey and pale, and he tried to go to sleep. I kept trying to talk to him to keep him responsive. I reassured him, ‘you’re safe, you’re in shock, you’re not going anywhere’.”
Mr Pugh also reported that he asked the boy who had stabbed him, to which he replied “I’m no grass”. Ms Pierce said in her own statement that she was walking along Whitefield Drive when she saw an “altercation” outside the Go Local Extra convenience store and shouts of: “Help, help.”
She recalled: “I saw a group of five people, youths, shouting and screaming. I heard a female shouting ‘get off him’. Two people were lying on the floor. I knew straight away they’d been stabbed. The blood was everywhere.”
Another man who came to the boy’s aid, Dennis McKee, had meanwhile walked to the same shop with his granddaughter and dog, leaving both outside as he entered the store. But, while browsing the aisles, he said: “I heard a sound that I recognised as a girl screaming. Soon after, I heard a lad screaming. I could see a lad on the floor and a person standing over the male, striking him.
“My first thought was to get to my granddaughter. He was crying out, ‘I’m dying, I can’t see’. I kept talking to him, telling him help was on the way.”
The boy meanwhile told the court in his own evidence that he only intended to “batter” his victim, who he described as a “bully” who had “caused fires and mayhem” previously and been pictured on social media armed with machetes. He added from the witness box: “As I was going up the road, I got shouted, and one of my neighbours said ‘listen that [victim] is a bully and he carries knives’, and he handed me the knife.”
The boy was found guilty of attempted murder by the jury of six men and six women on Wednesday afternoon, with the verdict being returned by a majority of 11 to one after eight hours and 15 minutes of deliberations. However, he was cleared of an offence of wounding with intent in relation to the girl.
He had previously admitted the lesser charges of wounding the boy with intent and unlawful wounding concerning the second complainant. The boy will now be sentenced on November 26 and was further remanded into youth detention until this date.
Judge Flewitt excused the jury from further service for 10 years, telling them: “So far as the case is concerned, because he is such a young man, I am going to have to have some reports to determine the appropriate way of dealing with him. The likelihood is that he will be staying [in youth detention] for some time.
“It is not uncommon, but it is unusual, for us to be dealing with defendants who are so young, charged with offences which are so serious. I am under no illusion how difficult it must be listening to the evidence in this sort of case, particularly watching that particularly harrowing footage.
“Please do not think in any way that we underestimate what you have been through. The system would not work without the work you have done over the past week or so. We are grateful for that. Thank you very much indeed.”
In the absence of jurors, Judge Flewitt then said to counsel in the case: “[There are] two issues that I particularly want you to address. The first is Section 250 of the Sentencing Act and the provisions for dangerous offenders. I will obviously need to consider that.
“The other issue is this. I don’t know whether either of you has looked at the guideline for attempted murder. Category A, very high culpability, has as a characteristic, the attempted murder of a child. Technically, that is what we have here. Whether it was ever intended to cover this situation is a matter that we will need to look into.”
Wearing glasses and a shirt and tie under a blue tracksuit top, the youth hugged his dad as he was led down to cells after the judge told him: “You understand that the jury have convicted you of attempted murder. As I am sure Mr [his counsel, Julian] Nutter has explained to you, that means you will have to spend quite a lot longer in custody. I will make a decision and tell you that decision on the 26th of November.”
