Boy, 15, attempted to murder girl in Barry stabbing

The 15-year-old defendant, who cannot be named due to his age, was found to be unfit to stand trial and so the jury was tasked with not deciding the defendant’s guilt or innocence, but instead to decide whether he committed the acts alleged or not.

The jury were sent out to consider their verdict yesterday afternoon, and today (Wednesday, July 17) at just after midday at Merthyr Crown Court, the boy was found to have committed the acts of attempted murder, carrying an offensive weapon and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He was going to meet the girl in Barry to buy a vape of marijuana (Image: Google Maps)

‘She was saying s*** so I went up and stabbed her in the ribs’

The defendant was meeting a girl at Cadoxton train station in January 2024 to buy a vape containing marijuana.

However, he would go on to stab the girl in the ribs due to the belief that she had said something derogatory about his deceased mother.

The victim in the case said she had no clue why the stabbing had happened and that she barely knew the boy.

Texts read out in court during the trial at Merthyr Crown Court, show the volatile situation and the speed at which information was conveyed about the shocking incident

Conversations between the defendant and friends on text went: “***** going to die today.”

“What you going to do?”

“Stab her.”

At one point the defendant texts: “She was saying s*** so I went up and stabbed her in the ribs.”

In another extraordinary message, the defendant is advised: “If you got away with it, live your life.”

‘It felt like two bits of barb wire’

The victim went into detail about what it was like being stabbed in previous interview having suffered a 4cm wound, saying it was like ‘barb wire’ sticking out of her

“At first I thought I had been punched with something then I dropped to the floor and it felt like two bits of barb wire were sticking out of me.”

‘Many such as he and others seem to live in a world that is divorced from reality’

In a poignant message to jurors, defence barrister Kevin Seal addressed the jury before they went to decide their verdict, trying to give some semblance of the mindset of young people in these situations.

“(These kids) live their lives on their phones, they live in their phones, their lives are their phones. It gives insight into how they behave. We may or may not agree with it, but this is life.

“Let’s put it into context which is messages from a 15-year-old boy who has no convictions or reprimands, but has become part of this other world.

“Unfortunately, due to video games and social media and the like many such as he and others seem to live in a world that is divorced from reality.

“They portray this persona as a gangster demanding respect. They speak in a way other people speak and copy it. It was a weird scenario.”

Judge Jeremy Jenkins thanked the jury for their participation having returned a verdict in a case described as unusual at 12.15pm.

“It was not a run of the mill case by any means,” said Judge Jenkins. “Thank you for your assistance.”

The defendant was remanded in custody for a psychiatrist report to be made on him before sentencing is passed.