Thug guilty after boy, 12, stabbed on bouncy castle at sister's birthday party
A thug's family was in tears after he was found guilty of attacking a 12-year-old boy stabbed on a bouncy castle.
Jurors took just minutes to find Mason Clague, 22, guilty of wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm after he attacked a child a birthday party in Bootle, Merseyside. However, he was cleared of possession of a bladed article in a public place following the trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
The youth was repeatedly knifed in the back garden of his nan's home during his younger sister's birthday party. Friends and family screamed in terror as the horrifying incident unfolded on Southport Road on April 7 2021. Clague's family were seen in tears as the unanimous verdict was delivered after only 20 minutes of deliberations.
He will be sentenced next Wednesday, September 27. Recorder David Knifton KC, who presided over the trial, released him on bail until this date, reports the Liverpool Echo. Prosecutor Charlotte Atherton told the jury last week that the victim was chased into the back garden by two men. He was then punched to the ground and stabbed repeatedly to the leg and buttocks by the attackers, who were said to have been Clague and an unknown male.
The boy and a 14-year-old friend had previously left the address to purchase a drink from a nearby corner shop at around 2pm, then began "larking about" and throwing stones on a nearby grassy area. The defendant was said to be sat in his car on the street before getting out, and became "very angry" when some of the rocks landed close to him.
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Clague then ran into his own home, also on Southport Road, and emerged with the second man, who has not been identified. They subsequently pursued the youngsters through the side gate of the younger boy's gran's address. While the older boy "made it back to the relative safety of the house", the complainant "was not so lucky". Clague was said to have been "the first to get to him" before launching a "frenzied attack".
The victim was "punched, kicked and kneed" then thrown onto the steps of the bouncy castle, where the unknown assailant stabbed him several times. He describes feeling a "poke in the leg" and believed he had been knifed by both of the men, with the incident only coming to an end when his mum placed herself in between them and her son shouting: "He's only 12."
Clague then allegedly replied: "I don't care. I'll f***ing kill him. I don't give a f***. I'll chop the lot of yous." Several other party guests including a former schoolmate and the mum, who used to babysit Clague, identified him as one of the culprits. But he denied he had been responsible for the assault and stated that he had been at home at the time of the attack, telling the jury on Thursday: "It's complete nonsense. I've never carried a knife leaving the house in my whole entire life. It would be crazy to even think of attacking a kid on a bouncy castle using a knife."
Clague claimed that he "didn't leave the proximity of his house the whole time or go anywhere near the house where the kid got stabbed the whole day", adding on the stand while being questioned by his barrister Anthony Barraclough: "I have lived in that house for 22 years. I know for a fact they have just seen the two lads run from the direction of my house and they are trying to pin it on me."
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