I did repeatedly punch teenager in face, but I didn’t mean to kill her
Defendant admits to court he had a ‘ short fuse’
THE killer of Louise Smith admitted punching her repeatedly in the face when she got “aggressive” after he told her to stop smoking cannabis.
Giving evidence for the first time during his trial for the 16- year- old’s murder, Shane Mays yesterday said he left the 5ft tall youngster “moaning” on the ground after she had hit him with a “big stick”.
Mays, who is 6ft tall and weighs 17 stone, initially insisted “he did not kill Louise”, but told the court he had lied to police investigators.
The 30- year- old, whose wife is Louise’s aunt, admitted he would “sometimes get angry” with the teenager when she refused to do chores and smoked cannabis in the house.
Her “terribly” defiled body was found burned in woodland near Mays’s home in Leigh Park, Hants, last May a jury at Winchester Crown Court has been told.
Anger
The defendant told the court he had a “short fuse” and could get violent when his anger “builds up”.
He said: “She [ Louise] said how she wanted to do the weed again and I said ‘ You don’t want to end up like your mum’.”
Mays told the court that after he made that comment Louise hit him in the ribs with a stick.
He said this, and her behaviour the previous night when she ran away, triggered his anger.
He said: “I grabbed the branch, threw it against the floor and I punched her... In the face.
“I was angry with what she did the night before and just then. The first punch she was standing. Second punch she went down.”
When asked why he continued beating Louise while she lay defenceless on the floor, he said: “Because I was angry and lost control of myself.
“I’m not sure [ if I broke her nose] I heard cracks but I’m not sure.” He told the court he then simply left the clearing with the bloodied teenager lying on the ground and only looked back when he heard her “moaning”.
He continued: “I got up and began to walk away. I looked back and heard her moaning and I just carried on walking.”
Mays denies murder but admits manslaughter.
He also claims he did not defile or set fire to Louise’s body.
The trial continues.