Shawn Seesahai, 19, was brutally attacked with a machete and later pronounced dead at the scene
Two 12-year-old boys believed to be UK’s youngest knife murderers have both been jailed for life, with a minimum term of eight years. Shawn Seesahai, 19, was brutally attacked with a machete in Bilston, Wolverhampton, on grassland near a primary school on November 13 last year.
The teen had been with friends when he had his legs slashed before the blade was plunged through his heart on Stowlawn playing fields in East Park. Despite the efforts of medics, Shawn, who had only been in the UK for six months after coming over from Anguilla for eye surgery, was pronounced dead at the scene at 9.11pm.
A court was told he suffered a 23cm (9in) deep wound which went through almost his entire body as well as a fractured skull. The two boys, from Wolverhampton, were 12 when they killed Mr Seesahai with a 42.5cm blade and are now both 13. They cannot be named due to legal reasons.
The boys are believed to be the youngest defendants convicted of murder in Britain since Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who abducted and killed two-year-old James Bulger in 1993. Their identities are protected by a court order which gives them anonymity until the age of 18.
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An application to lift the order so the killers could be named publicly was refused by Mrs Justice Tipples on Wednesday, July 30, as reported by Birmingham Live. She rejected a media application, stating that the welfare of the killers outweighed the wider public interest and open justice principles.
The pair had blamed each other for the attack but were found guilty following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court in June of this year. On Friday, September 27, both boys were detained for life with minimum terms of eight years and six months.
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Addressing the boys, Mrs Justice Tipple said: “Shawn was a young man, loved by his family with his future ahead of him. A jury at this court decided that you murdered him. The sentence I decide to pass today will not comfort Shawn’s family but it will bring to an end the legal process that they have been involved in since November last year to a close.“I know that they are listening to today’s hearing remotely from Anguilla.”
