Shawn Seesahai was reportedly tapped on the shoulder by the smaller of the two defendants, who “frequently” carried a 16-inch machete, then punched, kicked, stomped and “hacked” with the weapon.
Two boys, just 12 at the time, who murdered a teenager, were today sentenced to life in prison.
Shawn Seesahai was reportedly tapped on the shoulder by the smaller of the two defendants, who “frequently” carried a 16-inch machete, then punched, kicked, stomped and “hacked” with the weapon, within a month of each other. – A lengthy trial. A friend of the 19-year-old victim testified at trial that he had to run for his life, but Seesahai stumbled as he tried to get away from the boys.
His killers are thought to be the youngest defendants to be convicted of murder in the UK since Robert Thompson, then 11, and Jon Venables were convicted of killing two-year-old James Bulger in 1993. Today they were sentenced to at least eight years and six months in prison.
Passing sentence today, Mrs Judge Tipples told the couple at Nottingham Crown Court: “Mr Seesahai’s family, who had to take out a loan to travel from Anguilla to the UK to attend the 20-day trial, watched the sentence by video link yesterday but she could not afford the legal costs of the return journey. A statement read out in court said: “Since Sean was taken from us we as a family have struggled in many ways, particularly because of the horrific manner in which he was taken from us.
Losing a child is a parent’s worst nightmare and if I were to write out all the ways it has affected our lives it would take more than a day to read. It has left a huge hole in our solar plexus that nothing can ever fill. Our family is devastated, utterly heartbroken and confused.”
The statement went on to say that Sean was incredibly close to his sister. Her sister always attended his wedding and it was his dream to attend hers as well. The family, which includes parents Suresh and Maneshwari and sister Shanna, said: “Mentally, it has been difficult for any of us to function properly. Neither of us have been able to sleep through the night since Sean was taken from us.
“Every time I close my eyes all I can remember is what his final moments must have been like and how scared it must have been. This will always break my heart. The impact on our family is devastating. It’s hard to believe we will ever come to terms with what happened. I will never see Sean get married or start a family of his own. These things were taken from us for seemingly no reason.”
The trial at Nottingham crown court heard Shawn, of Handsworth, Birmingham, was “chopped” with the 16in blade and stabbed in the heart. Mrs Justice Tipples told the court there was “little precedent” for the case and the boys are thought to be the country’s youngest knife murderers. She ruled following the trial that the defendants cannot be identified by the media because of concerns surrounding their welfare. The boys were allowed to leave the dock and sit beside relatives on the back row of the court.
Prosecutor Michelle Healy KC explained that the incident was aggravated by the fact that one of the defendants admitted to carrying a machete “regularly” and that the two assailants attacked the victim together. One of the boys admitted possessing the knife before trial, but the other was also convicted of murder by a unanimous majority on 10 June and sentenced on the same charge.
Both boys claimed they had been in an argument about sitting on a park bench and that the other had inflicted four wounds with the machete.
Rachel Brand KC, defending the boy, who admitted purchasing and possessing the machete, told the court: “Just like any adult.
Ms Brand asked the court to take into account the fact that the boy had been “groomed” and abused by older teenagers and young men in the wider community, adding: The evidence shows that he was involved with his fists and his feet and that his co-defendant was brandishing a machete. He knows he is responsible for bringing that machete to the crime scene.”
“As a child who can barely express what happened, all he can say to the youth offences team is he wishes they hadn’t taken the machete. He wishes they hadn’t gone to the park. He wishes it had never happened.”
Paul Lewis KC, defending the other boy, said: “In our opinion the prospects for rehabilitation in his case are excellent. He has never been involved in any kind of crime before. “This was a one-off incident which was unplanned and lasted only a few seconds but clearly had tragic consequences.”
