Girl on trial for murder 'was a Satanist who joked about dead babies', jury told
A girl accused of the murder of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey allegedly described herself as a "Satanist" and "joked about dead babies", a court was told.
The teenager and a boy, both of whom are aged 16 and cannot be named for legal reasons, are currently standing trial, charged with murdering 16-year-old Brianna, who was knifed in the head, neck, back and chest during a "sustained and violent assault" in a park near Warrington, Cheshire. Girl X and Boy Y both deny this count and today "blamed each other" as the trial at Manchester Crown Court continued.
Deanna Heer KC told the court during the prosecution's opening last week that messages between the two youths in the weeks and months before the stabbing "showed a preoccupation with violence and torture and death". The then 15-year-olds were also said to have discussed killing other children who they knew, reports Liverpool Echo.
The teenager was stabbed 28 times in the park in February (MEN Media)A jury of seven men and five women were today played video recordings of interviews both defendants gave to detectives following their arrests on the evening of February 12, 2023 - the day after Brianna was stabbed at Culcheth Linear Park. Trial judge Mrs Justice Yip told the court that Boy Y was "provided with a football" when he was questioned in order to "ease his anxiety".
He said in his account: "I was invited to go to Culcheth by Girl X. She was inviting one of her friends, which was Brianna... Me and Girl X met up in Culcheth and we got some food from Sainsbury's, and we waited for Brianna to get off the bus at Culcheth Library. Then, after that, we walked to the forest.
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"Then, when we got to some area, I turned away to go to the toilet on a tree. Then, when I turned back around, I saw Girl X stabbing Brianna... Afterwards, when she stopped stabbing her, I went over to check if Brianna was alive. So I did put my hands on her, and I got blood all over my hands. Then Girl X started to run, and I just panicked and went with her - I wasn’t sure what to do. Then we both went home."
Boy Y described how they had earlier bought meal deals from Sainsburys - him buying a ham and cheese baguette, a white Kinder Bueno and a bottle of Coca Cola and Girl X purchasing an egg and cress sandwich, a pack of Fridge Raiders, a Dr Pepper and a pack of brownies - before meeting Brianna off the bus. The three then walked to Culcheth Linear Park.
He described how he turned his back for "10, 20 seconds", and then: "I turned around and Girl X was stabbing her in the back and Brianna was on the floor. I don’t know why."
Boy Y said he had seen Girl X stab Brianna "at least three times" to her back and right-hand side. He reported that he had earlier heard them "whispering about drugs or cocaine", but when Girl X had allegedly been attacking her he "just heard a thud on the floor".
The youth added: "I went over to Brianna to see if she was alive or not. I put my hand on her to see if there was any breathing or anything, I didn’t know if I felt anything. I got blood on my hands, all over my hands. I saw Girl X begin to run, so I panicked and ran with her."
Police are pictured investigating at Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington, Cheshire (MEN Media)In the aftermath, he described Girl X as being "calm, perfectly normal", while he was "panicked, stressed" and "in a little bit of shock". Boy Y said of the following evening: "I was just still panicking, I didn’t eat much."
The next day, he recalled that he and Girl X were "trying to make up a cover story, why we was the last people to see her". He said: "She was saying how she was gonna say that she went off to meet someone from Manchester."
Boy Y said he learned of Brianna's death after one of his friends posted an article in a Discord group stating that a woman had died in Culcheth Linear Park. When a detective asked him "did you think it was Brianna?", he replied: "I hoped it wasn’t."
He was then asked whether Girl X "had any ill feeling towards Brianna?", and responded: "I’m not sure. She doesn't like lots of people." Of the "cover story", Boy Y said: "She was saying how she would say that Brianna ditched us to go to some place to meet someone from Manchester and get drugs or something like that. I played along.
"I didn’t want her to think that I was gonna do anything to make the police come after her. I wasn’t sure if she would try and come after me or anything."
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Boy Y said she was "not mentally ok" and told him of having hallucinations previously. He reported that he had "panicked and deleted every contact off her off my phone" because he did not want to "see her again ever or speak to her".
When Brianna was named as the girl who had died, he said: "I felt like my heart stopped. I didn't know how to react." Boy Y told detectives that Girl X had "mentioned she had killed two people" previously, but he was "not sure if it was true or not". When asked to "describe her as a person, he replied: "Not really a normal kind of person... She likes to joke about like dead babies and stuff. I’m not really sure how to describe her personality, she's not a normal person."
When asked whether she had many friends, Boy Y said: "Not really. Lots of people didn’t like her and she didn’t like them as well." He also said his friends "didn't generally like her". When asked whether it would "worry" him when Girl X told him she had killed people, he said: "I've just gotten used to it."
Boy Y was asked what conversations he had had with Brianna on what was their first meeting, and replied: "I didn’t really speak to her. I don’t like speaking to people."
He also stated that she "seemed a bit timid, shy", adding: "She didn’t look like she liked to be in public places. She was going on about how there’s too many people on the bus."
In a second interview, Boy Y again discussed how Girl X had spoken of killing two other people and said: "I didn’t believe her. I went along with her story.
"I don’t really try and object to what she was saying. She was just trying to convince me, telling me how mentally unstable she is or something.
"She always says about killing things and jokes about stabbing things, watching torture videos. In Year Eight, she was saying about how she was a Satanist. She would joke about it. 'I’ll stab your nan, s**g your cat'."
When asked whether he "had access to any weapons or knives", Boy Y nodded and said he had a hunting knife which his dad had bought when they were on holiday abroad.
He added: "We bought throwing knives. We thought it would be fun. Throwing knives that you throw at a wall and they stick in, I'm not sure if it’s a sport or not. They was in a packet of three."
Boy Y said he had used these knives "on the fence in our back garden", and had used the hunting knife to "cook food with". He added: "It used to be kept next to my bed, but now it’s in the cupboard on the wall - it’s kept in its sheath."
The teenager said he had moved the knife "days ago" because he "didn't really want it next to me", adding: "I just liked the look of it. I had it as a vanity item."
When asked to explain cuts to his hands and arms, Boy Y said these had been "self-inflicted" as he was "worrying" about" lots of things, like GCSEs" while one injury to his forearm had been sustained when he was chopping limes. He meanwhile said that a cut to his left eye had been caused by his cats, whom he said "always scratch".
The trial continues. It is expected to last three to four weeks in total.
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