Man given hospital order after stabbing teen to death at Portsmouth Guildhall
18-year-old Aimen Ahmed was attacked while with friends on the steps of the building
A man who stabbed and killed a teenager on the steps of Portsmouth Guildhall has been sentenced to a hospital order.
Donnell Charles admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility and actual bodily harm after attacking 18-year-old Aimen Ahmed from Horndean on July 29th last year.
Aimen was found with stab wounds at 11pm that night after being attacked while watching a football match on his phone with friends.
Charles, who is 24 and formerly of St Peter's Grove in Southsea, spoke with the group briefly before returning around 10 minutes later.
Following an investigation, on Thursday 3 August 2023, 23-year-old Donnell Charles was charged with Murder, Attempted Murder, Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm, Possession of a Bladed Article and failing to disclose a pin code to a phone.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard he hit a member of the group with the hilt of a ‘zombie style’ knife before attacking another with the knife causing a minor wound to his neck.
Charles then moved towards Aimen and stabbed him in the abdomen, before making off on an e-scooter.
Aimen died despite life-saving efforts form police and paramedics.
Police arrested Charles two days after the incident after tracking him down using body-worn camera footage. Officers had previously been made aware of a man matching his description in the area the previous day, but he made off from the scene.
Charles pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article and failing to provide personal data, but denied the charges of murder, attempted murder and assault occasioning actual bodily harm and the case went to trial on Monday 28 October 2024.
During the 13-day trial, the court heard from psychiatric experts sharing their opinion as to whether Charles was suffering with psychosis at the time of the killing.
The court heard that Charles started displaying symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia when he was 18 years-old and had been previously treated for this.
The defence presented evidence that Charles meets the international diagnostic criteria for paranoid schizophrenia, and this diagnosis was reviewed and clinically confirmed by the consultant psychiatrist at Broadmoor Hospital, on the basis of the medical notes available to him and by seeing him in person.
The same doctor gave the opinion that Charles was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning arising from schizophrenia at the time of the incident and that his illness was likely to have substantially impaired his ability to form a rational judgement or exercise self-control.
The Crown Prosecution Service took these factors into consideration to decide whether he had the defence of diminished responsibility open to him and on Thursday 14 November, Charles entered a plea to manslaughter by diminished responsibility and pleaded guilty to two counts of actual bodily harm, these admissions were accepted by the court.
Detective Inspector Elizabeth Brunt, senior investigating officer for the case, said:
“We hope that today’s result brings closure, but also some level of comfort to Aimen’s foster family, as they now know that the person responsible for his death has admitted his guilt and been brought to justice.
“My team and I have worked tirelessly for over a year to hold responsible the person who brought about Aimen’s death and we believe the verdict today reflects this.
“I would like to further extend my sincere condolences to Aimen’s family and foster family, who have expressed their clear love and support of Aimen consistently throughout this investigation and trial, and to all those who knew him, for their loss.”