The jury in the Ava White murder trial has retired to consider its verdicts.
Ava, 12, was stabbed in the neck in Liverpool city centre last November. A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies her murder and manslaughter in a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Prosecutors say Boy A, from South Liverpool, knifed Ava after she argued with the teen about him filming her on Snapchat. They allege he laughed and ran away after stabbing her in the neck, then ditched his flick knife, designer coat and mobile phone in a "cover up", and told lies to police including giving a "false alibi" and suggesting another boy was responsible for her fatal injury.
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Boy A, who has admitted possessing an offensive weapon, accepts stabbing Ava, but says he "didn't mean to" and was "trying to get her away from me" in self-defence. He has told a jury he thought the schoolgirl was a boy, who might be armed, and feared she was going to "batter" him.
High Court judge Mrs Justice Amanda Yip concluded summing up the case this morning. She sent the 12 jurors out to consider their verdicts at 11.24am.
Over the last two weeks the trial has heard Ava and her friends, aged 11 to 15, argued with Boy A and his friends - Boys B to D, aged 13 to 15 - about them filming her on Snapchat, when she was lying on the ground in Richmond Street, on the evening of November 25 last year.
Boy A shared one video on Snapchat. Prosecutors have said "angry" Ava demanded they delete any videos and tried to grab Boy C's phone.
The jury has heard two masked boys came over - Boys F and G - and told Boy C, 16, to delete a video. Boy A said they held a "big knife" to Boy C's stomach and threatened "delete the f***ing video now or I'm gonna stab you".
After Boy C deleted his video, Boys F and G walked away. An autistic man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has said he later saw Boys F and G run past with a "Rambo knife".
The court has heard Boy A's group and Ava's group walked up Tarleton Street as they continued to argue. Prosecutors allege Boy A's group "jeered" at Ava when she lay down in Church Street, before Ava and friends followed them, up Church Alley.
Charlotte Newell, QC, prosecuting, has told the jury Ava pushed Boy A in School Lane, at around 8.35pm. She played CCTV footage said to show him moving backwards before pulling out a knife and stabbing Ava. Doctors say the 5cm deep wound damaged her jugular vein and caused "catastrophic bleeding".
Ms Newell said Boy A's reaction was not to turn and run, or slap or punch Ava. She said: "Instead it was to thrust a knife into the neck of this unarmed child."
The jury has watched footage of Boy A and Boy B running to the edge of town, where he accepts ditching his knife near some derelict properties, before leaving his coat in his nan's garden. The coat was later found in a wheelie bin. The court has heard he met Boy C and went back to his flat, stopping to buy crumpets at a shop, where he took a "selfie".
Police went to Boy A's home and got his mum to ring him and put an officer on the line, when he hung up. Boy A sent his mum a photo of the video game Call of Duty, which he said he'd been playing. The jury has heard texts including one in which he said: "Gonna end up going the cells for nothing."
He was arrested in Toxteth at 10.31pm and told police when interviewed he had been at the flat from 5pm to 10pm. After he was shown CCTV footage of himself in town, he claimed another boy stabbed Ava, before accepting he made that up.
Boy A told police in March where to find the knife - with a 7.5cm long blade - and admitted possessing an offensive weapon. He has told jurors he carried it "because I thought I was big".
When giving evidence, Boy A said he heard Ava tell a friend "shall we just jump him now cos I feel like it". He said he was "scared" in School Lane when she and friends ran at him. Asked why he got his knife out, he replied: "Because I was frightened and I was trying to like get away - I promise I didn't mean to hit her."
In a closing speech yesterday, Ms Newell told the jury Boy A had shown a "callous disregard" for Ava - "taking selfies, eating crumpets and playing Call of Duty, knowing he had stabbed her" and "repeatedly tried to hide the truth". She said: "Boy A tells a lie until it's proved wrong, then he moves onto another one."
The QC said Boy A and his group were "not scared of little Ava". She said: "He uses it (the knife) on an unarmed 12-year-old girl who is shouting at him."
Ms Newell added: "He uses his knife, when he doesn't need to, on a little girl".
Nick Johnson, QC, defending Boy A, argued Ava was the "aggressor" and it was not the case the prosecution had "sold" the jury. He said Ava - taller and heavier than Boy A - had "pursued" him with her friends, while his friends - "intimidated" by the earlier incident - were "too scared" to step in.
He said Boy A was "outnumbered and unable to defend himself against numbers and a possible weapon" and the fatal blow was "a swipe, not a thrust", as his client tried to warn Ava off. Mr Johnson said Boy was a "scared kid" who lied to the police, but was "telling the truth now".
(Proceeding)
