A boy accused of the murder of schoolgirl Ava White in Liverpool city centre showed a ‘callous disregard’ for her, a court was told today.
The accused, a 14-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murder. The teenager, who the ECHO is referring to as Boy A, admits being responsible for stabbing Ava, 12, on November 25, 2021, but claims he was acting in self-defence.
Boy A said he stabbed Ava accidentally after a row broke out regarding a Snapchat video. Liverpool Crown Court has heard Ava and her friends argued with Boy A and his group - Boys B to D - about them filming her on the social media platform.
READ MORE: Boys with Ava White had 'Rambo knife' says witness
The defendant had told the jury that he thought Ava was a boy and could be armed. He said he feared that she would "batter him".
On Monday morning, Liverpool Crown Court heard the closing speech from prosecuting barrister Ms Charlotte Newell, QC. Ms Newell said Boy A, who originally told police he was not in the city centre on the evening of Ava’s death and was at a friend’s house playing Call Of Duty on a PlayStation 4, “has repeatedly tried to hide the truth”.
She added: “Boy A, of course, had lied about where he was”, then he “quite ruthlessly blamed a real person”. “Boy A tells a lie until it’s proved wrong, then he moves onto another one”, Ms Newell said.
The court heard previously that the defendant admitted being in the city centre in his second police interview, once he was shown CCTV. Boy A had agreed he only accepted he had been in town because police had CCTV footage proving it.
Ms Newell said: "At every turn he's sought to adapt his case", and referred to evidence given by Boy A as: “lies told by a teenager who knows right from wrong”.
The QC said Boy A couldn’t admit he had killed Ava initially, as: “Otherwise it would expose his callous disregard for Ava, taking selfies, eating crumpets and playing Call of Duty, knowing he had stabbed her.” The jury was shown a CCTV clip of Boy A and his friends after the stabbing. They entered a shop, where he and another arranged their hair before taking a selfie.
She described Boy A’s feelings towards Ava as: “At best utterly unconcerned and at worst, quite pleased with himself, because he felt big”.
Ms Newell told the jury that they faced 'two fundamental questions' - whether Boy A 'deliberately or accidentally' inflicted the fatal blow to Ava and whether Boy A was acting in reasonable self-defence. She also told the jury to give due regard to Boy A’s age when considering their verdict.
However, she then said: “His age isn’t a defence. He’s not a babe in arms.” Regarding his possession and use of a knife, Ms Newell said Boy A was: "capable of lying about it over and over and over again to save his own skin".
The jury previously heard Ava and a group of friends, aged 11 to 15, had shared small bottles of vodka and were "messing around" near the Royal Court Theatre. Footage showed them "dancing and singing", before being told to move on by security staff, at around 8.15pm.
Ms Newell told the jury: "In the hour before her death, Ava would have been happy". She asked them to consider the question: "Are they (Ava and friends) a marauding band of hooligans or just children being silly?"
The prosecution suggested: "Ava was just messing around, doing what teenagers do". Ms Newell said the mood then changed, but it was changed by Boy A and his group, when they filmed Ava and her friends.
Ms Newell said that nobody would want to be filmed, but added: "If Boy A and his group wanted to diffuse it, he could've said he did film her and said sorry." Instead, the QC said, Boy A denied filming her and his whole group was laughing at Ava.
The court heard Ava was angry about the filming but in response to the accused's claim of self-defence, Ms Newell said that Boy A and his group were "not scared of little Ava". She added: "He uses it (the knife) on an unarmed 12-year-old girl who is shouting at him."
She added: "He uses his knife, when he doesn't need to, on a little girl".
Proceeding
