Girl, 12, killed after dispute over social media video
Teenager faces court trial for fatal stabbing during street argument over film he posted on Snapchat
AN ARGUMENT over a Snapchat video ended in a 12-year-old girl being fatally stabbed in the neck, a court was told yesterday.
Ava White was stabbed in Liverpool city centre on Nov 25 last year after confronting a 14-year-old boy over social media videos he was filming of her and her friends.
The boy stabbed a flick knife with a 7.5cm blade into Ava’s neck, damaging her jugular vein. Paramedics attempted to save her life but she went into cardiac arrest and died later at the hospital.
The boy – referred to only as Boy A because of his age – is on trial for murder and appeared via video link at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday.
Boy A pleaded not guilty to murder, with the prosecution saying he would claim that he stabbed the girl in self defence. He admitted a charge of having an offensive weapon.
The judge, Mrs Justice Yip, said the court had made accommodations due to his age and abilities, including providing him with a “fidget toy” to help him manage ADHD.
On the night of her death, Ava was with a group of 10 children, aged 11 to 15, who had gone to see the Liverpool Christmas lights being switched on.
The prosecution told the jury the group were in the city just to “hang out”, which included “the sharing of small bottles of alcohol, singing, dancing and generally messing about in a manner which doubtless they enjoyed”.
Boy A was also out for the evening with three other boys aged 13 to 16.
Charlotte Newell QC, prosecuting, said as Ava’s group approached, Boy A “took out his phone and began filming … this footage was to be distributed by Boy A via the social media platform Snapchat”.
Ava was “not at all happy about being filmed and made that plain” to the boys, seeking help from two male friends who convinced the boys to get rid of the footage.
Both groups moved on, but the skirmish continued. They ended up on School Lane, where the groups had a scrap that included pushing.
Ms Newell said Boy A’s “reaction to 12-year-old Ava confronting him in this way was not to turn and run … or to slap or punch her, or try to grab her arms or ask anybody in the crowd for assistance …. It was to reach for his knife”.
CCTV footage played to the court shows Boy A stabbing Ava, who staggered away, clutching at her neck.
Her family held each other and cried in court while the footage was shown. The prosecution told the jury that after stabbing Ava, Boy A and his friends fled the scene. He discarded the knife in undergrowth, got rid of his phone, and put his coat in a bin.
Soon after 9pm, police went to his address to arrest him, where his mother answered the door and told officers he
‘After Boy A was arrested for murder, he continued those attempts to prevent police discovering the truth’
was not at home. She called her son, who told her he was playing video games at a friend’s house and sent her a picture of a gaming console.
Boy A was later spotted by police in the city centre after 10pm, where he was arrested.
In police interviews over the next few days, he told “repeated and deliberate lies claiming that he wasn’t even present”, said Ms Newell.
She said that Boy A initially told police that he had left his coat in his grandmother’s garden and that it was someone called “Akeel” who had stabbed Ava White.
He later told police that “Akeel” was made up and that he had stabbed Ava, although he maintained he did so in self defence.
Ms Newell told the court: “After Boy A was arrested for murder, he continued those attempts to prevent police discovering the truth.”
The trial continues.