Two 13-year-old boys have been sentenced to a minimum of eight and a half years in custody for the murder of Shawn Seesahai from Anguilla.
The children, whose identities are protected by law, will both be 20 before they are eligible for release.
Seesahai, who was aged 19, died from head and body wounds in a park in Wolverhampton, England, in November last year after being struck several times with a machete.
He had only been in England for about six months, having come over from the Caribbean for eye surgery.
In handing down the sentences in Nottingham Crown Court on Friday, 27 September, Justice Amanda Tipples said the facts of the case were “horrific and shocking”.
She spoke in detail about her considerations during the two day sentencing hearing, including that both of the boys were just 12 at the time of the attack, and that it was unclear who inflicted the fatal wounds.
The judge also discussed their individual backgrounds – that the first defendant was “the victim of trafficking and extremely vulnerable” and the second defendant was mature beyond his years.
Despite their different circumstances, the judge concluded that both boys should receive the same minimum sentence.
‘Intended to kill’
In her sentencing judgment, Justice Tipples explained that the first defendant had bought a machete from a friend in October 2023 for £40 and kept it under his bed.
On 13 November, he came home from school, got changed out of his school uniform, into a tracksuit, picked up the knife, left home and met up with the second defendant, a friend from school.
They met up with other friends, and by early evening they headed to Stowlawn playing fields in Wolverhampton.
Seesahai has been visiting the town with a friend, and earlier in the evening the pair were sitting on a bench in the park, chatting about their plans for Christmas.
At about 8.15pm he and his friend left the bench and walked away from it, past the defendants, the judge said.
During the first day of the sentencing hearing, the court heard that the first defendant had told him to “Keep stepping”.
“The defendants were then at the bench. Shawn returned after a few minutes, spoke to the defendants and asked them to move. Moments later, he was dead,” the judge said.
She said the defendants jointly attacked Seesahai and killed him, and immediately left the park together.
The first defendant later cleaned the machete with bleach and put it back under his bed. The defendants were arrested the next day.
Seesahai died from a 23 centimetres deep machete wound in his back that penetrated his lungs and heart, and also had serious injuries to his head, arm and thigh.
“I am sure from the nature of these injuries, that the defendants intended to kill Shawn,” Justice Tipples said.
“They acted together to do so, although I cannot be sure which one inflicted the fatal stab wound.
“It was an attack which happened on the spur of the moment and was not premeditated.”
‘Extremely complex needs’
The judge explained that the only sentence she could pass for each defendant was ‘detention during His Majesty’s pleasure’, and it was her duty to set the minimum term before release.
As the defendants were 14 or under at the date of the offence, the starting point is 13 years, which reflects the seriousness of the offence, she told the court.
Her duty was to look carefully at each defendant on an individual basis, both in terms of what they did, together with information on them as people, their backgrounds and experiences.
“I also have to look at the list of aggravating and mitigating factors,” she said, mentioning the attack being by two people but with no premeditation and the defendants being a young age.
The judge said the first defendant had “extensive involvement of children’s services”, had been referred to mental health services due to instances of self harm and was diagnosed with ADHD.
She added that he seems to function at a lower level than his chronological age, both in terms of understanding and his emotional literacy.
He has “extremely complex needs”, experienced violence from within the home from an early age and had been “groomed and exploited”.
“These are all factors which diminish the culpability of the first defendant,” the judge said, adding that for those reasons she brought the minimum sentence down to eight and a half years.
‘Positive and mature’
The second defendant had a supportive and loving relationship with his family and was not known to social services or the police at the time of the offence.
He expressed that he feels remorse for what happened and feels sorry for the victim’s family and understands that they are suffering greatly, the judge said.
The young teen is of a medium risk or reoffending and a high risk of serious harm to others, however, he continues to behave in a “positive and mature manner” in custody.
“His emotional maturity and development age was not below his chronological age, he does not have any mental health problems, but may have dyslexia,” the judge said.
She said for these reasons she also sentenced him to an eight and a half year sentence, with time already served taken into account.
“I appreciate that this is the very same as for the first defendant,” she said, “but having applied the guideline, the factors that have led me there are different.”
Both defendants will remain on licence for the rest of their lives, which means that if they break certain conditions after release, they will have to return to prison.
The judge concluded by extending the court’s condolences to Shawn Seesahai’s family, and thanked them for the “dignified way in which they have conducted themselves during this trial”.
The first day of the sentencing hearing can be read in full here.
