A boy accused of the “frenzied” stabbing with a hunting knife of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey said he thought his co-accused would blame him for the murder.
Brianna, 16, was stabbed with the knife 28 times in her head, neck, chest and back in Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, on the afternoon of February 11th.
Two teenagers, identified only as girl X and boy Y, both now aged 16 but 15 at the time, deny murder and are blaming each other for Brianna’s death, a jury at Manchester Crown Court heard. Neither can be named due to their ages.
Boy Y admitted lying to police after his arrest for murder by claiming he had never taken his hunting knife out with him.
But police later found it in his bedroom with his DNA on the handle and Brianna’s blood on the blade. Her blood was also found on his clothes and trainers.
Boy Y told the court girl X had asked him to bring the knife when they met Brianna and he handed it over to her.
He said as his back was turned, girl X suddenly began to stab Brianna.
He told the jury he got blood on his hands after going to check on Brianna, who was bleeding, “everywhere”, adding that girl X then handed the weapon back, which he took home after they ran away from the scene.
Girl X claims boy Y did the stabbing while her back was turned.
Prosecutors allege both of them had a fascination for violence, torture and murder and had planned the killing for weeks.
Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, on day 14 of the trial, asked boy Y: “Were you worried she might betray you? Were you worried she might tell on you?”
Boy Y said: “Tell on me for doing what?”
Ms Heer said: “For killing Brianna with her.”
Boy Y replied: “But I did not. It was X who did that, so I thought she might blame me, not betray me in the way you said.”
Ms Heer continued: “The truth is that you stabbed Brianna, didn’t you?”
“No,” boy Y replied.
Earlier jurors heard girl X enjoyed watching internet torture and killing material from the “dark web” and had an interest in serial killers.
Both defendants had discussed a “kill list” of other children to harm and a “murder plan” on how to kill Brianna, it is alleged.
Girl X has said this was just a “dark fantasy” and boy Y said he never thought an of it was serious so he went along with her as she was “always talking about murder and nothing happens”.
Boy Y is giving his evidence by typing on a keyboard, sat behind a desk in a side room of the courtroom with his answers spoken by an intermediary sat beside him, and watched by the jury in the courtroom by videolink.
Jurors have been told boy Y has “gradually stopped speaking” to anyone apart from his mother following his arrest, and had been diagnosed with selective mutism, as well as autism spectrum disorder.
Ms Heer asked boy Y: “Having seen girl X stab Brianna, were you frightened at all?”
Boy Y said: “I do not know what the feeling of fear feels like physically.
Ms Heer asked: “Is the truth you took your knife to Culcheth in order to stab Brianna?”
“No,” boy Y replied.
He denied any animosity towards Brianna because she was transgender, despite asking if Brianna was a “femboy or a tranny” and referring to her as an “it.”
Ms Heer asked: “Did you think that Brianna was somehow less important than you? Did you think that because she was transgender you were entitled to hurt her?”
“No,” the boy replied.
The trial was adjourned until Friday.
