Two 12-year-old boys have been found guilty of stabbing a stranger to death with a machete in a park in Wolverhampton.
Throughout the trial both boys sought to blame one another for the murder of Shawn Seesahai. Today the jury decided to unanimously convict both for the crime.
They are believed to be the youngest boys to have committed a knife-related murder in the UK.
The youths are also believed to be the youngest children to have been found guilty of murder since Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged 11, were found guilty in 1993 of killing two-year-old James Bulger.
A month-long trial at Nottingham Crown Court was told Mr Seesahai 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 victim’s friend told the trial he was forced to run for his life, but 19-year-old Mr Seesahai stumbled as he tried to flee from the boys on Wolverhampton’s Stowlawn playing fields on November 13 last year.
The court heard that they attacked the victim with such force that in one blow the machete almost passed through his body
Mr Seesahai was pronounced dead at 9.11pm on November 13 last year after police were called to the scene at 8.37pm.
Mr Seesahai had travelled to the UK with friend Deron Harrigan, primarily because he needed cateracts surgery which was unavailable on Anguilla. He settled in Handsworth, Birmingham, and jurors heard the pair travelled to Wolverhampton that November evening with a third man, Jamal Clarke, because Mr Clarke wanted to visit his girlfriend in the city.
Prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC said Shawn and his friend ended up in a confrontation with the two killers – who had been ‘roaming the streets’ with the machete – while killing time wandering through Stowlawn playing fields as Mr Jamal visited his partner.
Prosecutors say the two 12-year-olds, acted together to kill Mr Seesahai after he ‘shoulder-brushed’ them by a bench.
Mr Harrigan told jurors how he had run for his life after the two boys launched the attack with the blade, and turned around to see his friend on the floor and fatally wounded.
Having been left traumatised by the ordeal, he returned to Anguilla after the murder and gave evidence from the island via a videolink. The witness said: ‘It was a big blade, something similar to a machete. He pulled it out of the sheath from his waist. Shawn told me to run.’
The witness said that as the pair ran, Mr Seesahai tripped and was attacked.
Prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC said the victim had ‘offered no violence and ‘done nothing to offend the two boys’. A girl at the scene with the youths said she saw the boys ‘punching’ and ‘kicking’ their victim as he lay on the floor. It was not ‘unusual’ that the boy who admitted possessing the knife had a machete as he ‘often’ carried it, she claimed.
The defendants said the confrontation began when Mr Seesahai told them to move from the park bench they were sat on, then got the boy who owned the knife in a headlock.
Family members of both the victim and the defendants cried and hugged each other in the public gallery as the jurors found both boys guilty of murder and one guilty of possessing a bladed article.
In an interview released after the verdicts, Mr Seesahai’s parents Suresh and Maneshwary have said they will never be able to get over the loss of their 19-year-old son who always told them he would ‘shine’ and take care of them.
Suresh Seesahai said he feels sorry for the parents of the killers and only hopes that ‘justice’ is served for his son.
They also spoke of their shock at discovering the age of their son’s killers.
Suresh said: ‘Pay attention to your kids, if you see them doing something wrong then tell them. Check their room, sometimes you don’t know what’s in there so check it as parents.
‘This world is a different world, kids are dangerous now. If we don’t pay attention to them this will keep happening.’
Maneshwary, added: ’12-year-old kids should be at home doing school work and then going to bed.’
His mother said Shawn wanted to be an engineer and said that after his eye surgery, the keen sportsman planned to finish his education . ‘He always said ‘Mum, I’ll be shining, I’ll be shining. Don’t worry, I will help you.’
Mr Seesahai said he feels sorry for the parents of his son’s killers, but needed to see justice done. ‘They (the boys responsible) don’t have to be locked up for life’, he said, ‘I just want it to be fair.’
The couple said they ‘couldn’t eat for a week’ through shock after first Shawn’s friend phoned to tell them he had been murdered, before police followed up to confirm any parents’ worst news 30 minutes later.
They said their surviving child, Shawn’s teenage sister, is bereft at the loss of her sibling.
‘It’s very hard for his sister because they always spoke to each other’, Mr Seesahai said. ‘After he passed away we were on the porch, she started crying and said ‘Mummy I have no brother it’s just me, alone’.
‘I told her she has her father and her mother.’
Detective Inspector Damian Forrest, who led the investigation, said: ‘The weapon was a large machete that really no person who doesn’t need it as a tool of their trade should have any reason to own.
‘Obviously, originally it would be a gardening tool.
‘Although the facts of this case mean we can’t say for certain how that weapon came into the possession of the suspects, there is some evidence that suggests that one of them had tried to purchase knives on the internet.’
Jonathan Roe, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS West Midlands, said: ‘Shawn Seesahai was an incredibly brave young man who had a world of opportunities at his feet.
‘Shawn suffered traumatic injuries after being ruthlessly targeted by defendants who had a fixation with violence and were roaming the streets looking for a potential victim.
‘This was a horrifying and random act of brutality, perpetrated by two 12-year-olds who should not have been spending their time arming themselves with a machete and preparing to take a life.
‘Today’s conviction should send a clear message to those who feel it appropriate to arm themselves with knives or blades – no matter how you may try to justify it, you will face the consequences of your actions.
‘All of our thoughts remain with Shawn’s family and friends at this difficult time.’