Two 12-year-old boys have become the youngest murderers in the UK since the James Bulger killers after being found guilty of a fatal machete attack on a teenager in Wolverhampton.
Family members of both the victim, Shawn Seesahai, and the defendants cried and hugged each other in the public gallery as jurors unanimously found both boys guilty of murder.
A month-long trial at Nottingham Crown Court was told the 19-year-old victim was shoulder-barged by the smaller of the two defendants, who “often” carried a machete with a 42.5cm-long blade, before being punched, kicked, stamped on and “chopped” at with the weapon.
The two 12-year-olds are the youngest defendants convicted of murder in the UK since Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged 11, were found guilty in 1993 of killing two-year-old James Bulger.
Two boys, 12, become youngest murderers since James Bulger killers after being found guilty of machete murder
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In an interview released after the verdicts, the teenage victim's parents Suresh and Maneshwary Seesahai said they would never be able to get over the loss of their son.
Seesahai said he felt sorry for the parents of the killers and only hoped that “justice” was served for his son.
The teenager's friend, who was with him at the time of the attack, told the trial he was forced to run for his life but Mr Seesahai stumbled as he tried to flee from the boys on Wolverhampton’s Stowlawn playing fields on November 13 last year.
After initially refusing to answer police questions in the aftermath of the murder, the boys eventually gave evidence to jurors, blaming each other for inflicting the fatal blow.
As well as failing to summon help for Seesahai, the defendants showed no remorse for what they had done in the 24 hours before their arrest – with one cleaning the machete with bleach and hiding it under his bed.
They told the court they both played video games in the hours after the killing, claiming they did not know Seesahai had died until the following day.
Shawn Seesahai
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The court was told how one of the defendants, wearing a mask, posed for a picture with the weapon hours before the attack.
A later forensic analysis found 11 areas of bloodstaining on his clothing.
The boy was also seen with blood on his hands in the aftermath of the murder.
Analysis of the clothing worn by the second boy found a small area of bloodstaining on his right trainer.
Seesahai, a stranger to the two boys, was pronounced dead just after 9pm, after police and paramedics were called to the scene.
At the start of the trial, prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC told the court Seesahai, who lived in Handsworth in Birmingham, was originally from Anguilla in the Caribbean.
Seesahai, a stranger to the two boys, was pronounced dead just after 9pm, after police and paramedics were called to the scene
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Heeley said the victim was attacked “despite the fact Shawn Seesahai and his friends had offered no violence, nor done anything to offend (the boys)”.
Heeley said a teenage girl who had been with the 12-year-olds told police that both had been in possession of the machete and one often carried it.
The witness described seeing one boy pick up the machete and hold it in the air, and Mr Seesahai falling to the floor and then being punched and kicked.
Heeley added: “She told police she saw (a defendant) using the machete on Seesahai’s legs, and also saw (the other defendant) punching and stamping on his head.
“The prosecution say the two boys were engaged in a joint attack upon a man who had done nothing wrong, a man with no weapon, who was utterly defenceless on the ground.
“We say that these two boys were acting together and meant to kill Seesahai, at the very least they intended to cause really serious harm.
“As a result of their actions, Shawn Seesahai died at the scene. He had been hit so hard to the skull with the machete that a piece of bone had actually come away.
“He had slash wounds on his leg and most significantly he had an injury from the machete that went through his body all the way from his back, through his ribs and into his heart.”
Floral tributes to Seesahai
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High Court Judge Mrs Justice Tipples thanked the jury for their “hard work and determination” in what has been a “tragic and distressing case”.
Seesahai’s parents questioned how children so young could have a weapon like a machete with them as they walked the streets.
Suresh said: “This world is a different world, kids are dangerous now. If we don’t pay attention to them this will keep happening.”
The two 12-year-old murderers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are expected to be sentenced in July.