Man killed girl as she played with hula hoop

A MAN who murdered a nine-year-old girl by stabbing her in the heart while she played with a hula hoop in the street has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years.

- SOPHIE ROBINSON Press Association

Lilia Valutyte died from a single stab wound to the chest as she was playing

Lilia Valutyte was attacked by Deividas Skebas, 26, in the town centre of Boston, Lincolnshire, on July 28 2022, while she was playing outside her mother’s embroidery shop.

A trial heard there was no dispute that Skebas, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, killed Lilia, but a jury was asked to decide what his state of mind was at the time of the attack.

The Lithuanian defendant, who told police he was being controlled by ‘Nasa, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but was convicted of murder by a jury at Lincoln Crown Court on February 5.

Skebas, formerly of Thorold Street in Boston, appeared by video-link from high security facility Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire wearing a navy blue zip-up jumper and stared ahead without reacting as his sentence was read out by Mr Justice Choudhury yesterday.

In his sentencing remarks, the judge said Lilia was a “happy, lively girl as carefree as any nine-year-old should be’ adding that Skebas committed a “shocking and horrific act of violence” on her.

He added: “She should have been safe. She was playing in a pedestrianised area and just yards away from her mum.”