Deividas Skebas denies murdering Lilia but admits manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, a court heard.
A schizophrenic man fatally stabbed a nine-year-old girl through the heart as she played with a hula hoop in the street, a murder trial has heard.
Deividas Skebas attacked the girl on Lilia Valutyte on Fountain Lane, Boston, Lincolnshire, on July 28, 2022, while her mum was working nearby. The 23-year-old, who moved back to the UK from Lithuania weeks before the attack, denies murdering Lilia but admits manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, the court heard.
Jurors were informed that there is no dispute that Skebas stabbed and killed Lilia, but they must decide what the defendant’s state of mind was when he killed her, reports the Mirror.
Prosecutor Christopher Donnellan KC opened the case against him at Lincoln Crown Court today, Monday, January 26.
Mr Donnellan told the jury of seven men and five women: “It’s a tragic case, we accept. But, as has already been indicated by My Lord, one you have got to set aside your emotions. This deliberate murder was clearly a wicked act. He knew his conduct was wrong. He knew he was killing a child.”
The little girl was playing with a hula hoop outside a shop where her mum was working in Boston town centre at around 6:15pm, the prosecutor said. The street, not accessible to through-traffic, was empty.
“The defendant, Deividas Skebas, was waiting,” Mr Donnellan continued. “He waited while other pedestrians moved out of the way. When they left the immediate area and had gone… he approached from the Wormgate end of Fountain Lane.”
Mr Donnellan said Skebas’s pace “quickened” before he took a knife out from his back pocket and “put the knife straight into the middle of Lilia and the force of it appears to have knocked her back towards some shutters on the adjoining shop.
“That stab wound went straight through her heart and she fell there in the street,” the prosecutor added. “He ran off.”
An off-duty cop initially chased after Skebas, but began trying to save Lilia’s life after hearing “noises of distress,” the court heard. She was tragically pronounced dead at about 7.11pm, within an hour of the attack.
The jury was told that Skebas had purchased a paring knife from a local Wilko two days before he killed the girl. He was arrested on July 30, but transferred to hospital due to his “declining” mental health. After his arrest, the defendant said there was a “form of control over him and his actions”, referring to Nasa and a microchip, the court heard. Jurors were told Skebas was not fit to be tried at the time.
Mr Donnellan told the jury: “He is saying he’s not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. Experts agree that Mr Skebas is diagnosed with schizophrenia.”
Skebas has been treated for his mental health in the UK and Lithuania, and previously attacked someone with pepper spray while he was living in the UK in 2020, before he was taken to hospital and subsequently moved back to Lithuania.
The prosecutor said the defendant had lawfully returned to the UK on July 2, 2022, adding: “It is not entirely clear why he came here, possibly for work.”
