Two boys who were with a schoolgirl on the evening she died were seen running with a “Rambo-style” knife, a court has heard.
A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims he stabbed 12-year-old Ava White in self-defence after an argument about a Snapchat video he filmed of her in Liverpool on 25 November.
All three cannot be named for legal reasons.
Nick Johnson QC, defending the 14-year-old, told Liverpool Crown Court that the two other teenage boys had been with Ava and her friends when they had an altercation with the defendant.
The defendant has claimed he heard one of the two boys say “delete the f****** video now or I’m going to stab you” and his friend said he had seen a knife.
The court heard that the two boys had left Ava‘s group before the stabbing but then received a telephone call and ran back to Williamson Square.
The jury was shown a video interview with a man who saw the two males running past him outside a bar.
The witness said: “They were running down and they were shouting something and I saw the taller one pass the other person a knife.”
When asked to describe the weapon, the man said: “It was, like, not a knife you’d see in your kitchen.
“One of the ones from the movies, something like that. A Rambo-style knife.”
The man told police he had seen the teenagers earlier and thought they were “up to something”.
He said: “There’s something shady about them. They were just stood [sic] there next to each other, not talking, they had balaclavas on.”
Mr Johnson suggested the evidence was “highly significant” and told the jury the prosecution did not want to dispute it.
CCTV of the boys running was shown to the jury.
Ava was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital by paramedics at around 8.30pm after being stabbed in the neck, but she died soon afterwards.
The trial is due to resume on Monday with closing speeches.
The boy denies murder and an alternative count of manslaughter.
Additional reporting by PA
