Ballieston teen convicted of killing young footballer

A 17-year-old was convicted today of killing a promising young footballer by knifing him.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stabbed 16-year-old Luke Wallace in the groin during a confrontation in Ballieston, on June 17, last year.

Luke suffered massive blood loss from the stab wound which cut his femoral artery, and died in hospital eight days later.

A jury at the High Court in Glasgow convicted the teenager of the culpable homicide of Luke.

Luke's mother Angela Wallace, 49, told the High Court in Glasgow that just an hour before the stabbing she texted her son asking where he was and telling him 'be safe.”

She told the jury: “ I know 100 per cent Luke would never carry a knife.”

The court heard that Luke and a friend Josh McFall, 18, confronted the 17-year-old as he walked along the street hand-in-hand with a teenage girl.

Mr McFall had a piece of wood in his hand and Luke had a lump of concrete, which he threw at the 17-year-old.

The accused reacted by chasing after Luke, from Garrowhill, and stabbing him once with a knife at Glasgow Road near to Maxwell Avenue.

He then ran away and told friends: “I've just stabbed someone.”

His hands, clothes and the knife were covered in Luke's blood, but his only concern was getting his bus ticket from a friend so he could get home.

The teenager was also convicted of having a lock back knife in his possession and attempting to defeat the ends of justice, by washing clothing he was wearing when he killed Luke. at the time of the alleged murder.

A 17-year-old admitted stabbing Luke, who played from Drumchapel Amateur Football Club, but claimed he was acting in self defence when he gave evidence.

But, the jurors heard that when quizzed by police, who asked if he had acted in self defence, he told them “to f off and when charged said: “It's all sh you're pure w**.”

The youth claimed, in evidence, that he was terrified and had just 'poked” Luke with the knife , which he found lying on a traffic island, in a bid to get away.

But, the jury did not believe him.

The teenager was originally on trial accused of Luke's murder, but at the end of the Crown case prosecutor Jane Farquharson withdrew the murder charge and replaced it with the reduced charge of culpable homicide.

Miss Farquharson said: “This case clearly and tragically illustrates the dangers of carrying knives. It is in the public interest that those who use and carry knives should pay for their actions. The accused's claim of self defence is nothing more than a convenient smokescreen behind which he seeks to hide.”

Judge Lord Woolman deferred sentence until next month for background reports. He remanded the the teenager.

Defence QC Mr Jackson will give his plea in mitigation then.

In a highly unusual move the accused tried unsuccessfully to have Luke's family and friends and other members of the public excluded from the court when he gave evidence. This demand was refused by Lord Woolman