Boys who killed with machete aged 12 are detained

Two 13-year-old boys who murdered 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai with a machete must serve a minimum of eight years and six months in custody.

The pair were 12 at the time of the murder in Wolverhampton, and are the youngest convicted killers since Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who murdered two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.

The boys, who cannot be named, will remain on licence for the rest of their lives.

Mr Seesahai’s family have spoken of their anger, telling the BBC they believed the boys’ sentences were too lenient.

His mother, Maneshwary Seesahai, said: “I’m not happy. All the children in the UK will see that they only get eight years [and six months] and they will do the same thing.”

His father, Suresh Seesahai, told the BBC: “The police did a good job, but I’m not satisfied with the justice system.

“Fifteen years would have been better, because they will come out and still have a life at the age of 20.”

Speaking about his son’s murder, Mr Seesahai said: “They killed my son like they kill a dog. It’s brutal.

“They stab him through and through. They kick him. They cuff him. He was helpless.”

The boys have been detained at His Majesty’s Pleasure, which is the legal equivalent of a life sentence for a juvenile. They will stay in youth detention accommodation, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

In theory, if the boys are considered a risk to the public, they may never come out of prison.

However, if they make good progress and are considered not be a risk and behave well, they will be released – subject to the parole board agreeing – when they are 20.

In court, the prosecution said the boys were “the youngest knife murderers”.

Speaking on X, formerly known as Twitter, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “When I read about Shawn Seesahai’s murder last November, I was shocked to my core.

“In my five years as Director of Public Prosecutions, I never encountered a case like this. That a murder so brutal could be carried out by 12-year-olds is hard to believe.

“Young children should not have access to knives. We need to tackle the crisis head on.”

The judge, Mrs Justice Tipples, told Nottingham Crown Court the facts of the case were horrific and shocking.

Mr Seesahai was struck with a machete to his back, legs and skull, and was also beaten.

He was killed by a stab wound to the back, inflicted by a machete, which penetrated his lungs and heart.

The fatal wound was 23cm (9.05 inches) deep and almost went through his entire body.

The judge told the boys in their sentencing: “I cannot be sure which one of you stabbed Shawn through the body, only you know that.”

However, she said the pair “acted together to kill him”, adding: “You are both responsible for his death.”

“What you both did is horrific and shocking. You did not know Shawn, he was a stranger to you,” the judge said.

Mrs Tipples told the court that the first boy had bought the machete from a friend for £40, which he kept under his bed.

He came home from school on the day of the murder and got changed out of his school uniform, before taking the machete and going out to meet the other boy and some friends.

She said Mr Seesahai had been on a bench in the Stowlawn playing fields in Wolverhampton, leaving the bench for a few minutes and walking past the defendants, who then went and sat on the bench.

Mr Seesahai then returned to the bench after a few minutes and asked the boys to move.

“Moments later he was dead,” the judge said.

During the sentencing, the court heard about the boys’ backgrounds and mental states.

Defence counsel Rachel Brand KC told the judge that the first boy was a vulnerable child who had been groomed, exploited and trafficked by men in the wider community, who encouraged him towards criminality and possession of knives.

In her sentencing, Mrs Justice Tipples said this “contributed indirectly to his participation in Shawn’s murder” and described him as “a victim of modern slavery”.

The court heard that social services had been in his life since he was a baby and that he had experienced violence at home from a very young age.

However, Ms Brand said he was making “very positive progress” at a secure unit, developing trusting relationships with staff.

The second boy was not known to social services or the police, with Mrs Tipples saying he had a supporting and loving relationship with his family.

She said he had experienced upheaval throughout his childhood and that he had spent some time in a refuge.

The report assessed him as of a medium risk of reoffending and of a high risk of being a serious harm to others.

Mr Seesahai was from Anguilla in the Caribbean and had only been in the UK for six months before he was murdered.

He had travelled to the UK for eye surgery after injuring himself while playing basketball.

The 19-year-old settled in Handsworth, Birmingham, and hoped to study engineering.

His mother said: “Shawn was such a loving son, he was so well-mannered, looked after us, was loving to everyone and very protective.

“After his eye surgery he told me he would finish school. He always said: ‘Mum, I’ll be shining, I’ll be shining, don’t worry I will help you’.”

His family said they had used up all of their life savings to repatriate his body back to Anguilla and had to take out a loan to attend the trial earlier this year.

“No-one expects to have to bury their own child. We were not prepared for this,” they said.

Dorothea Hodge, the UK representative for Anguilla, was representing the family during the hearing.

She said that while the family recognised justice had been served in respect of the murder, they were “disappointed in the sentence”.

“Whilst they recognise that three young lives have been destroyed, they alone have lost their son forever,” she said.

“They do not feel that the sentence reflects the loss they have suffered daily since their son was murdered.

“They feel that if low sentences are given, it will not deter others from carrying knives.”

A special documentary is available on iPlayer as part of the BBC’s The Big Cases series.

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