A 15-year-old boy who stabbed another teenager through on the way home from school has been found guilty of murder.
Alfie Lewis, 15, was stabbed through the heart “in full view” of students leaving a primary school in Leeds last November.
The teenager, who was 15 at the time of the stabbing, said that he was scared he was about to be attacked when he pulled out the 14-cm knife.
He denied murder, stating that he was frightened for his life when he produced the weapon, which he had brought from home.
A post-mortem found the fatal injury was a 14cm-deep wound that punctured Alfie’s heart.
A jury of five men and seven women at Leeds Crown Court convicted him of the offence and he will be sentenced on 21 June.
The judge, Justice Cotter, told him: “You have been found guilty of murder.
“There is only one sentence I can pass. What I have to determine is how many years you will be detained before you are able to be released.”
Craig Hassall KC said all the witnesses who saw what happened outside St Margaret’s Primary School in Town Street, Horsfort gave statements that were “consistent”.
He added: “None of them suggest that Alfie was in any way the aggressor, none of them suggest it was Alfie that attacked [the defendant].
“None of the witnesses heard Alfie shouting at or threatening [the defendant]. Not even [the defendant] says Alfie shouted at or threatened him.”
Hassall said some witnesses “describe Alfie trying in vain to defend himself from [the defendant’s] knife”.
He said witnesses remember Alfie looking “surprised and shocked” and saying to the defendant: “What are you doing?” as the incident unfolded just before 3.00pm on November 7, 2023.
The prosecutor said: “Alfie did not get as far as meeting any of his friends that day.
“He was approached by (the defendant), and stabbed twice – once in the chest and once in the leg.
“He collapsed and died in the road close to the primary school in full view of scores of pupils leaving school and the people who were waiting to collect them.”
More to follow…
Source Agencies
