Teen given 11 years after stabbing boy with bottle in Holbeach

BBC News

31-03-2025

A 17-year-old boy who attempted to murder a fellow teenager by stabbing him with a broken bottle has been sentenced to 11 years in custody.The boy, who was 16 at the time and cannot be named because of his age, carved a letter on his victim's torso during the attack in Holbeach in July last year. He was found guilty of attempting to murder the youth, who was also 16, after a trial at Lincoln Crown Court in January. During a hearing at the same court earlier, Judge Simon Hirst said he was a dangerous offender and would have to serve an extended licence period of two years on his release.
Jurors had heard how the boy left his victim for dead after repeatedly stabbing him on a piece of land adjacent to a school.
Facetime call
During the trial, the prosecution said the victim was wounded after he passed out from drinking vodka, which had been bought by an adult from a local shop.The defendant claimed he had no memory of the attack and said his last memory was placing the other boy on the ground near a bench.But jurors heard the defendant made a Facetime video call to a teenage girl from the area in which he could be seen holding a beer bottle.He also made a threat to slit the other boy's throat and told the girl "his future is in your hands."Following the attack, the victim was taken to the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and placed in an induced coma after he was found lying face down next to a hedge with wounds to his throat and chest.Jurors heard the defendant had a history of being referred to mental health services and claimed to have carried out a previous assault on a friend, which he also could not remember.Karen Walton, mitigating for the boy, said he suffered from a number of potential impairments which could not yet be diagnosed because of his young age.Ms Walton said the boy was "self-medicating" and was "very intoxicated" at the time.The boy later spoke of how he was "truly sorry" for his victim, Ms Walton said. There was now the possibility of him maturing with good intervention.
'Extremely scared'
Passing sentence Judge Hirst told the boy he had explained his actions in a Facetime call from the scene."You smashed the bottle and said 'I'll kill him'," the judge said.There were a number of aggravating factors, including the victim's vulnerable state at the time of the attack and the damage done to his body, he added.An impact statement from the victim was read out in court. He described how he suffered scars that would remain for the rest of his life."When I came round in hospital I felt very confused. I also felt scared and nervous," the boy said."I was extremely scared I was going to lose my life."
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