Ava White begged a friend “please don’t leave me” as she lay injured on the floor after being stabbed, a court heard.
Ava died after she was stabbed by a 14-year-old boy in School Lane in Liverpool city centre. Boy A accepts responsibility for her fatal injury, but says he acted in self-defence.
The teen, from South Liverpool, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murder and manslaughter. A trial at Liverpool Crown Court has been hearing the last set of evidence from friends who were with her around the time of the incident on November 25, 2021.
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This morning, jurors heard from Girl H, one of a number of boys and girls with Ava around the time she died. The court has already heard how in the run up to Ava’s stabbing her and a number of friends had bought vodka from a shop on London Road and later been caught on CCTV outside St John’s Shopping Centre.
They later moved towards Williamson Square after a security guard who saw them ripping up plants moved them on. Girl H, similarly to other children who have previously given evidence, said her group then became involved in an argument with a group that included Boy A over the fact that they were filming them on their phones.
Girl H said Ava became annoyed and tried to get the group to delete the videos. She said this argument went on for some time before seeming to sort itself out. However, she said that as both groups made there way separately across Church Street she heard Boy A shout “look at the state of youse”.
She said Ava then went over to him and started arguing with him again. Girl H said she saw Boy A move towards Ava and hit her and that she then chased after him with other friends as he ran away.
She said: “I tried to go up to them. They just ran away. I ran back to Ava and Ava was on the floor lying down. We was like 'what the hell' and then Ava, she must have been in shock or something, but she was just lying on the floor. It was horrible to look at because her neck was bleeding that much.”
Girl H said they tried to get help from members of the public and to get someone to call an ambulance as Ava lay on the floor. She said: “I remember her saying to us 'don't leave me'. That's the last words I heard out of her mouth because then I had to walk away because I couldn't look at her any more.”
The jury also heard this morning from Girl D, who was also with the group on the night the stabbing took place. Girl D said she was sitting on a bench round the corner when the stabbing took place and became aware of it when she heard a loud scream. She said she then ran over to where the group was and tried to help Ava.
Girl D said: “She had her arm over me and she was trying to undo her jacket. There was blood coming out of her neck. We sat her down and she was bleeding on me and we were just trying to apply pressure to the side of her neck.”
She said they continued to do that while they waited for police and paramedics to arrive. Ava later died in hospital despite doctors’ efforts to save her.
Proceeding
