IIn a sensational murder case, two twelve-year-old boys were convicted in England. A jury at the court in Nottingham found it proven on Monday that the two boys stabbed a 19-year-old with a machete in November 2023.
The children are now considered the youngest convicted killers in Britain since the murder of little James Bulger by two 10-year-old children nearly 30 years ago. The exact sentence will be announced at a later date. Their names cannot be mentioned because they are still minors.
The perpetrators attacked 19-year-old Sean Sisahai and his companion in a park in the city of Wolverhampton, near Birmingham. Sisahai came from the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla and was in the UK receiving treatment for cataracts. The BBC reported, among others.
According to the ruling, he was initially hit on the shoulder by one of the perpetrators. While the friend managed to escape, the 19-year-old stumbled, and was then kicked, beaten, and assaulted by the boys with a 42.5-centimetre-long machete. He was stabbed in the heart, and it was devastating „The Daily Telegraph” It was carried out with such brutality that the weapon penetrated almost the entire body.
The victim and the perpetrator have never met before
According to the court, one of the boys often carried the machete with him, and according to media reports, the boy would sometimes take photos with him that other teenagers took with their smartphones. Police later found the cleaned knife under the bed of one of the perpetrators. Neither of them confessed to his crime, but rather accused each other in the trial that lasted a month. In the end, the jury found both guilty.
The motive behind the crime remained unclear during the trial. Those involved did not know each other. One of the accused testified that the subsequent victim rudely asked her to release a seat. The prosecutor confirmed that there was no reason for the attack and that the 19-year-old behaved peacefully.
In England and Wales, children aged ten years and over are criminally liable. However, minors in prison are treated differently from adults and serve their sentences in special centres.
The number of violent crimes committed using stabbing weapons has recently increased in Great Britain. In 2023, there were nearly 50,000, seven percent more than in 2022.