Two 12-year-old boys found guilty of machete murder

Two 12-year-old boys who used a machete to mercilessly stab an "utterly defenceless" teenager have been found guilty of murder.

- HOLLY EVANS

Jurors unanimously convicted the youths, who are believed to be the youngest defendants convicted of murder in Britain since Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged 11, were found guilty in 1993 of killing two-year-old James Bulger.

They had attacked Shawn Seesahai, 19, who was unarmed when he and his friend were set upon while walking through Stowlawn playing fields in Wolverhampton on 13 November last year. Jurors heard one of the defendants regularly carried a machete, and the two had been seen “passing it between themselves” before carrying out the lethal attack.

Despite doing nothing to offend his killers, Mr Seeshai was shoulder-barged and then hit so hard on the skull that a piece of bone came away. He also suffered a fatal 23cm-deep stab wound which almost went the whole way through his body.

In an interview released after yesterday’s verdicts, Mr Seesahai’s parents Suresh and Maneshwary 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.

Speaking for the first time since their son was murdered, Suresh Seesahai said he feels sorry for the parents of the killers and only hopes that “justice” is served for his son. Both the defendants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had screenshots of knives on their phones and had researched articles about the killing. One of them had also searched online for “how many criminal records can you have to leave the country” on 14 November, the day after the attack.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that Mr Seesahai, who lived in Handsworth in Birmingham but was originally from Anguilla in the Caribbean, had travelled to the UK to receive treatment for cataracts.