Britain's youngest killers in 30 years sentenced for machete attack
Adds PM Starmer comment in paragraphs 7-8
Boys, aged 12 at the time, sentenced to minimum of 8 years and 6 months
Judge Tipples: Attack was horrific, shocking, and not premeditated
PM Starmer: Young children should not have access to knives
By Kylie MacLellan
LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) -Two boys who were aged 12 when they killed a 19-year-old man in a "horrific" machete attack in central England last year were sentenced on Friday to a minimum of eight years and six months in custody.
The boys, now 13, are the youngest people to be convicted for murder in Britain since two 10-year-olds killed toddler James Bulger in 1993, one of the most infamous murders in the country's recent history.
The victim in last year's attack, Shawn Seesahai, was stabbed in the back, legs and skull in a park in Wolverhampton in November. The court heard the wound to his back was 23 centimetres (9 inches) deep, penetrating his lungs and heart.
"The facts of this case are horrific and shocking," Judge Amanda Tipples said.
"I'm sure from the nature of these injuries that the defendants intended to kill Shawn, they acted together to do so although I cannot be sure which one inflicted the fatal stab wound. It was an attack which happened on the spur of the moment and was not premeditated."
The boys, neither of whom can be named for legal reasons, were found guilty of murder in June after a 20-day trial.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a former chief prosecutor, said he had been shocked to his core by the case.
"That a murder so brutal could be carried out by 12-year-olds is hard to believe," he said on X. "Young children should not have access to knives. We need to tackle this crisis head on."
Seesahai, who was from Anguilla in the Caribbean, had been in Britain for around six months, visiting for eye surgery and to study. He was described by his mother as "generous and compassionate".
His father said the murder "left a huge hole in the pit of our stomach which nothing can fill, we are devastated as a family, totally heartbroken and confused".
One of the boys bought the machete from a friend for 40 pounds ($54) and kept it under his bed. On the day of the attack he came home from school, got changed out of his uniform, and took the knife with him to meet up with the second boy.
After the attack on Seesahai, who had asked them to move from a bench, the boys fled. One cleaned the machete with bleach and put it back under his bed.
($1 = 0.7468 pounds)
Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Alex Richardson
Berita Terkini
Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
Sebarang kandungan pihak ketiga serta kandungan yang disediakan oleh XM, seperti pendapat, berita, penyelidikan, analisis, harga, maklumat lain atau pautan ke laman web pihak ketiga yang terdapat dalam laman web ini disediakan berdasarkan "seadanya" sebagai ulasan pasaran umum dan bukanlah nasihat pelaburan. Sesuai dengan apa-apa kandungan yang ditafsir sebagai penyelidikan pelaburan, anda mestilah ambil perhatian dan menerima bahawa kandungan tersebut tidak bertujuan dan tidak sediakan berdasarkan keperluan undang-undang yang direka untuk mempromosikan penyelidikan pelaburan bebas dan oleh itu, ia dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah peraturan dan undang-undang yang berkaitan. SIla pastikan bahawa anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi mengenai Penyelidikan Pelaburan Bukan Bebas dan Amaran Risiko mengenai maklumat di atas yang boleh diakses di sini.
