A teenager – aged 14 at the time – stabbed a 15-year-old boy and knifed a 14-year-old girl on April 30, Liverpool Crown Court heard
A teenager stabbed a 15-year-old boy 11 times and knifed his girlfriend in the chest, a court has heard.
The boy, who is also aged 15 and cannot be named for legal reasons, was said to have carried out the “premeditated” attempt on the alleged victim’s life in retaliation for an earlier incident which saw his friend suffer a head injury after being struck with a metal pole.
This was described as the “catalyst” for him stashing a knife in his waistband before approaching the other boy “from his blindside” at a bus stop outside a convenience store and delivering repeated blows with the weapon, as well as allegedly stabbing a 14-year-old girl who attempted to intervene. He went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court today accused of charges including attempted murder.
On Tuesday afternoon, a jury of six men and six women were shown CCTV footage in which the defendant, who was then aged 14, and one of his friends appeared to approach the shelter on Whitefield Drive in Kirkby on the evening of April 30 this year wearing tracksuits and with their hoods up, Liverpool Echo reports.
Another boy, who was waiting to take a bus home along with two girls, was then seen to pick up a discarded bottle from the floor and confront the second male while shouting: “What? What? What?” The defendant was then captured “circling behind him, approaching from his blindside” and producing a bladed a weapon from the waistband of his trousers before stabbing the teen, the court heard.
Arthur Gibson told the court during the prosecution’s opening: “In all, he delivers 11 stab blows to [the boy]. In the course of the attack, [the boy’s girlfriend] intervenes and comes between the two of them. He stabs her once. That, in a nutshell, is what this case is all about.”
Both the boy and girl suffered serious stab wounds as a result of the incident and were taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, although they have since “made good recoveries from their injuries”. 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 another friend of the defendant and left him requiring hospital treatment for a cut to his forehead.
This came after the other boy in the opposing group had reportedly “produced a weapon from his trousers”, with Mr Gibson describing this as being “a catalyst which caused the eventual incident outside Go Local” on Whitefield Drive. The defendant returned home following this initial confrontation, but, after receiving a 45 second phone call from his friend shortly after 8pm, the two were shown meeting up again within five minutes before walking towards the area of the bus shelter.
CCTV then captured him “messing around” as he apparently “put something in the waistband of his trousers”, allegedly a knife, with his companion seen wearing a balaclava.
Mr Gibson added: “The prosecution say that whatever happened at the bus shelter was not a sudden reaction to what happened at the Alt. This is 25 minutes later. This had been thought out. [The defendant] came at him from behind. The prosecution says that, when you look closely, you will be able to see him producing the knife from his waistband.”
The injured boy was initially stabbed twice in the back before falling to the ground, at which stage the defendant “stood over him and stabbed him three more times”, the court heard. He then “pushed past” the two girls as they “tried to get between him and [the victim]” before delivering a further three blows with the knife.
Mr Gibson continued: “It was at this point that [the girl] got between the two of them, and he plunged the knife into her chest. He then turned his attention back to [the boy]. [The boy] was trying to pick himself up off the ground. [The defendant] kicked him in the face and stabbed him several more times. In all, he suffered 11 stab wounds, mainly to either his upper front torso, his back or his upper left arm.”
The defendant and his friend were said to have run away from the scene after the incident, although he was arrested at his home address shortly after 9.30pm the same evening. Officers noted at this stage that he had sustained a cut to his hand, while he later told detectives he had “never met [the boy] before” when interviewed the following day, the court heard.
Michael Pugh, the landlord of the nearby Johnny Todd pub, meanwhile administered first aid to the boy after a member of the public “came in shouting ‘two kids have been stabbed by the shop'”. He later told police he “kept talking to him to keep him conscious”, adding: “I noticed the young male go dead grey and pale and try to go to sleep.”
A nurse who also happened to be driving past the area also came to his aid before the arrival of police and paramedics. Mr Gibson concluded his opening by saying: “That, in summary, is what this case is about. The first incident, the prosecution say, was the catalyst for what then happened 20 minutes later outside that shop on Whitefield Drive.
“The defendant has accepted stabbing both [the boy and the girl] and that, at the time, he was acting unlawfully. He claims that he only intended to cause [the boy] serious injury and did not intend to kill him. He claims that he was simply reckless when he lashed out with the knife and was not intending to cause [the girl] serious injury.
“We, the prosecution, do not accept that. We say that he attempted to kill, that is, to murder, [the boy]. We say that the attack was premeditated. He armed himself with a knife. He repeatedly stabbed [the boy], not just once or twice, not even three or four times. A total of 11 blows.
“He stabbed him a couple of times. [The boy] immediately goes to the ground. But he continued to stab him. He persisted in the attack, even though both girls tried to intervene, even after [the girlfriend] had got between him and [the boy] and even after he had stabbed her, we say, to get her out of the way.
“The blows themselves were aimed at [the boy’s] chest area, either from the front or the back, where his vital organs were situated. We say that he must have known he had already caused him serious injury after those first blows, but he continued to do so.
“We, the prosecution, say that there is only really one reason why you continue to stab someone so many times. That is because your intention is not solely to cause them serious harm, it is to kill.”
