A 16-year-old boy who carved the letter ‘A’ on his victim’s torso when he attempted to murder a youth of the same age in Holbeach was today (Monday) sentenced to 11 years in custody.
The boy, who is now 17 but can not be named because of his age, will also have to serve an extended licence period of two years on his release from jail after a judge decided he was a dangerous offender.
He was found guilty of attempted murder after a trial at Lincoln Crown Court in January.
Jurors heard how the boy left his victim for dead after repeatedly stabbing him with a broken bottle on a piece of land adjacent to the William Stukeley primary school.
The letter ‘A’ was also carved into the victim’s torso, the court heard.
Sentence on the boy had been adjourned for an updated psychiatric report.
Judge Simon Hirst said he was particularly concerned about the “carving of the letter A” on the victim and the possibility of the defendant developing further mental disorders.
Passing sentence Judge Hirst told the boy he had explained his actions in a FaceTime call from the scene.
“You smashed the bottle and said ‘I’ll kill him,’ ” Judge Hirst said.
Judge Hirst said there were a number of aggravating features to the subsequent attack.
“First, he was vulnerable through drink,” Judge Hirst explained. “Second, you gratuitously degraded his body. Third, you moved his body some 50 metres away and placed it under a hedge.”
An impact statement from the 16-year-old victim was also read out in court.
He described how he suffered scars which would remain for the rest of his life.
“When I came round in hospital I felt very confused. I also felt scared and nervous,” the boy explained.
“I was extremely scared I was going to lose my life.”
The victim was discovered with wounds to his throat and chest after police were called to the scene during the early hours of July 28.
Stuart Lody, prosecuting, said the boy was wounded by other the youth after he passed out from drinking vodka which was bought by an adult from a local shop.
Giving evidence, the 16-year-old defendant claimed he had no memory of the attack.
The boy claimed his last memory was placing the other other boy on the ground near a red bench after sharing the vodka with him and a teenage girl.
But jurors heard the defendant made a FaceTime video call to another teenage girl from the bench area in which he could be seen holding an unbroken beer bottle.
He also made a threat to slit the other boy’s throat and told the girl “his future is in your hands,” the court heard.
A short time later at 1.22am the girl received a message which read “it’s on you.”
The victim was taken to the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and placed in an induced coma after he was located lying face down next to a hedge.
Jurors heard the defendant had a history of being referred to mental health services and he claimed to have carried out a previous assault on a friend which he also could not remember.
Under cross-examination from Mr Lody, the boy denied a suggestion that his explanation of blackouts was a convenient reason to avoid taking responsibility for what he had done on this occasion.
Karen Walton, mitigating for the boy, argued he suffered from a number of potential impairments which could not yet be diagnosed because of his young age.
“There was also the element of drink. He was very intoxicated at the time,” Miss Walton added.
“He was self medicating and someone already behaving irrationally in the run up to this event.”
Miss Walton said the boy later said how he was “truly sorry” to his victim and there was now the possibility of him maturing with good intervention.
“He does not recall the event at all,” Miss Walton added.
