A Jury has determined a man was responsible for the killing of a-nine year-old girl in Boston

Lilia Valutyte suffered a single stab wound to the chest last July

Author: PA, Julie CastonPublished 11th Jul 2023
Last updated 11th Jul 2023

A man has been determined by a jury to have carried out the killing of a nine-year-old girl by stabbing her in broad daylight as she played in the street.

Lilia Valutyte suffered a single stab wound to the chest as she was playing with a hula hoop in Boston, Lincolnshire on the afternoon of July 28 last year.

Deividas Skebas was unanimously determined to have physically committed the act of killing Lilia by a jury, after around just 15 minutes of deliberation following a two-day trial of the facts at Lincoln Crown Court.

The 23-year-old had been deemed unfit to plead or face a conventional trial earlier this year, and did not attend the hearing or play any part in proceedings.

The jury could not deliver a verdict of guilty or not guilty of murder, due to a trial of the facts not deciding whether Skebas intended to kill, but instead had to make a determination as to whether he physically committed the act of killing.

Mrs Justice McGowan DBE is expected to sentence Skebas to a hospital order, the only sentence the court can pass, later on Tuesday.

What is a trial of facts

A trial of facts - also known as a finding of fact, trial of the act, or trial of the issue - is not to decide whether someone intended to commit an act or question a defendant's state of mind but to determine whether they physically did it.

While a defendant cannot be criminally convicted, the burden of proof for a jury remains beyond all reasonable doubt.

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