Shawn Seesahai was found stabbed to death on playing fields in Wolverhampton in November (Picture: PA)
Two 12-year-old boys have been found guilty of murdering an ‘utterly defenceless’ 19-year-old with a machete.
Shawn Seesahai was found stabbed to death on playing fields in Wolverhampton in November.
Nottingham Crown Court heard Mr Seesahai’s legs, back and head were all slashed with a machete.
He was hit so hard on the skull a piece of bone came away before being beaten and kicked.
The two 12-year-olds, who cannot be named because of their age, were both charged with murder and possession of a bladed article a day after the attack.
Detective Damian Forrest said his experienced team were left in shock when two 12-year-old boys were identified as suspects.
He said: ‘I have been a police officer for 20 years and this isn’t the first time I’ve been out to a young man who has lost his life in a really violent way, but to then find out that two 12-year-olds were responsible was shocking and made us all on the investigation team stop and pause and think about things.’
Paying tribute to her son, Shawn’s mother described him as a ‘courageous, compassionate and confident young soul’.
Nottingham Crown Court heard Mr Seesahai was ‘utterly defenceless’ (Picture: GoFundMe)
Mr Seesahai, who lived in Handsworth in Birmingham but was originally from Anguilla in the Caribbean, had travelled to the UK to receive treatment for cataracts.
On November 13, he had travelled with friends to Wolverhampton, while the two 12-year-olds were together from 4.10pm that afternoon, meeting two girls of around the same age who are witnesses in the case.
The jury heard that one of the girls told police that one of the defendants regularly carried a machete, that he had a machete that day, and that he and other boy ‘were passing it between themselves’.
Prosecution KC Michelle Heeley said: ‘It’s understandable how a weapon of this type and size could cause fatal injuries in such a short space of time.
He was hit so hard on the skull a piece of bone came away (Picture: West Midlands Police/PA Wire)
‘Whilst these two boys were roaming the streets with a deadly weapon, Mr Seesahi was just with his friends.’
After spending a period of time sitting with a friend on a bench and walking near basketball courts, the court heard Mr Seesahai and his friend ‘came together’ with the defendants as the boys passed the machete between them, with one commenting: ‘Keep stepping’.
The weapon had been taken out of one of the boys’ trousers and was made available to be used ‘despite the fact Shawn Seesahai and his friends had offered no violence, nor done anything to offend (the youths)’.
Floral tributes left at the scene in at Stowlawn playing fields in Wolverhampton (Picture: PA)
A witness described seeing one boy pick up the machete and hold it in the air, Mr Seesahai falling to the floor and then being punched and kicked.
One of the 12-year-olds claimed he got the machete used in the killing from ‘a friend of a friend’, but police said there was some evidence that he had searched for knives online.
Detective Inspector Damian Forrest, who led the investigation, said: ‘The weapon was a large machete that really no person who doesn’t need it as a tool of their trade should have any reason to own.
‘Obviously, originally it would be a gardening tool.
‘Although the facts of this case mean we can’t say for certain how that weapon came into the possession of the suspects, there is some evidence that suggests that one of them had tried to purchase knives on the internet.’
This is a developing news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.