A man killed a nine-year-old girl by stabbing her in the heart in broad daylight as she played in the street, a jury has ruled.
Lilia Valutyte suffered a single stab wound to the chest in Boston, Lincolnshire, on the afternoon of last July 28.
After a two-day trial of the facts at Lincoln Crown Court, jurors took about 15 minutes to conclude Deividas Skebas was the girl’s attacker.
The 23-year-old was deemed unfit to plead or face a conventional trial due to his mental health earlier this year and did not attend the hearing or play any part in proceedings.
Jurors were not asked to deliver a guilty or not guilty verdict or determine if Skebas intended to kill – instead only determining if he physically did what he was accused of.
You have dealt with some very unpleasant material and I'm afraid that that is what juries do— Mrs Justice McGowan DBE
Shortly after the jury returned its conclusion, the judge, Mrs Justice McGowan DBE, said: “It’s been an unusually short case and you have dealt with issues that if this were a normal trial would have taken a couple of weeks.
“You have dealt with some very unpleasant material and I’m afraid that that is what juries do.
“I am also going to release you from jury service for the next five years, should you wish to be released.”
The judge is expected to sentence Skebas to a hospital order – the only sentence the court can pass – later on Tuesday.
A trial of facts – also known as a finding of fact, trial of the act or a trial of the issue – is not to decide whether someone intended to commit an act or question a defendant’s state of mind but to decide if they physically did it.
While a defendant cannot be criminally convicted, the burden of proof for a jury remains beyond all reasonable doubt.
In the trial, the jury was told by prosecutor Christopher Donnellan KC that Skebas returned to the UK for a second time from his home country of Lithuania last July 20.
On July 26, he was seen buying a Sabatier paring knife from Wilko in Boston town centre, the court heard.
Two days later, he was seen on CCTV walking around Boston before running towards Lilia at about 6.15pm as she played with a hula-hoop outside the shop in Fountain Lane where her mother worked.
He pulled a knife from behind his back before stabbing the girl and running away past an off-duty police officer, who was about to give chase but stopped after hearing screams from behind.
Lilia was declared dead at Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital at 7.11pm.
He admitted that he had stabbed Lilia. He admitted he has seen (her) playing in the street. He identified himself in the CCTV extracts— Christopher Donnellan KC
Following his arrest two days after the killing, the paring knife was found “tucked behind a radiator” at Skebas’s home in Thorold Street, Boston, as was a grey Calvin Klein T-shirt stained with Lilia’s blood, the court was told.
In an interview with police, Skebas said: “I grabbed the knife and I stabbed her”.
Mr Donnellan KC told the jury: “He admitted that he had stabbed Lilia.
“He admitted he has seen (her) playing in the street.
“He identified himself in the CCTV extracts.”
Should his mental health improve, Skebas, who is charged with murder, could face a conventional trial.
