Britain’s youngest killers: The Wolverhampton machete murder | BBC Documentary full episode

#Machete #Wolverhampton #Anguilla

Shawn Seesahai, from Anguilla in the Caribbean, had moved to the UK with the dream of becoming an engineer.

Instead, the 19-year-old was murdered by two 12-year-old boys in an unprovoked attack in Wolverhampton.

The boys, who cannot be named because of their ages, are believed to be the youngest people to be convicted of murder since 1993.

The BBC has investigated Shawn’s murder, and has heard how the loss has impacted his family back in Anguilla, who described it as their “worst nightmare”.

[Music] two 12-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 19-year-old was stabbed to death in Wolverampton every day wake up you cry you go to the bathroom the time you wake up doing anything I my mind on him they kill my son like they killing um a dog or something you know it’s brutal i couldn’t believe that the machete they killed my son with that long machete like that i couldn’t believe my skin just you know get cold when I see see that machete i think about the circumstances that led to two 12y olds mooching around a park with a knife nearly as long as their legs um then yeah I feel sad about it i think you know what’s gone wrong well the two boys who cannot be named are believed to be the youngest people convicted of murder since James Bul’s killers were detained in 1993 he died innocent and I lost my son [Music] shan Cisahai was born on the island of Anguila it’s a British overseas territory in the Caribbean which has a population of just over 15,000 the biggest industry is tourism but while visitors are often wealthy the people who live there aren’t go ahead paint everything white his father Sesh works in construction his mother Manaswari is a housekeeper at some of the many luxury villas sha was born in 2004 he make us keep laughing enjoy him from that day he bar we were so joyful you know have a first baby in our life was so joy happy that now we became a family you know but Sean was really wonderful growing up as a little baby it was the best thing for me to know that I have a son as my first child and we are happy about him was gorgeous you know just playful laughing always be happy so after when he start to grow now he start to talk he see the plane and he say mommy mommy I want to be I want to be a pilot I want to be a pilot and he keep you know talking talking but after then he changed after then he say um he want to he want to be engineering he was always in sports he always play basketball he always play cricket so he always be you know physical he always work with me on and he decide to want to be a engineer he said “Daddy I like the work you do i want to be an engineer i want to be an architect i want to help you out because I build house on foundation.” He said “We could work as a team that I have i draw the plan you read the plan you build the house.” [Music] The family live in Anguila’s capital the valley which has a population of less than 4,000 about the size of a British village sha loved playing basketball this was one of the many courts he played on sean was a lovely boy um initially when I met him he was very quiet and then as we got to know each other he came out more and he liked to joke around a lot he was like the jokester on the teams basketball was a good escape for Sean that was his happy place he liked to be on the court he started out being a very timid player um not because he couldn’t play but I think being a shy person he he was afraid to really express himself on the court but as he as he grew in confidence um he showed what he can really do on the court but it was a basketball injury that set in train a sequence of events that would ultimately have tragic consequences he always says his eye pain in him is eye pain in him i say oh your eye pain he said I had hits when I were playing basketball he’d suffered a very serious injury a detached retina and traveled to the United States for surgery but his visa ran out so in 2023 he came to the UK for further treatment i think when he left here and he was in the UK his plan was to make the most of it like to take advantage of the opportunities at that time he was living in um Birmingham i went there spended 3 months with him and make sure the surgery done and everything done and then I I I came back things were looking up his eye problems were almost behind him and he hoped to stay in the UK to study engineering [Music] on November the 13th 2023 Sha and his childhood friend Darren Harrigon traveled from Hansworth in Birmingham to meet some other friends in Wolverampton it was there that a chance encounter would cost him his life their movements were filmed on CCTV first traveling by tram then walking to the stolorn playing fields they stopped at a nearby shop to buy some drinks this was the last image of Sha alive they returned to the park and walked past the bench where two young boys and two young girls were sitting there was an altercation it’s not known what caused it but it was more than likely over something trivial one of the boys produced a large machete as Darren and Sha tried to escape Sha fell and was repeatedly stabbed by the two boys he died where he fell i was the on call uh homicide senior investigating officer on the 13th of November last year i received a call um telling me that a young lad had been stabbed in Wolverampton and uh and that he’d unfortunately passed away when I got there I learned that the young man who had died was called Sha Cishigh i also learned that friends of Sha had rang his parents back in Anguila and they were actually on the phone to them there um at that time saying Shan’s been killed i left Shock after I hear a call and they say Sean gets stabbed i don’t know what happened after i think maybe I throw the phone down i don’t I can’t remember what happened and I like left in shock she said what sean get stabbed i She started say Shan get stopped and she started crying so I took the phone from her and I asked the guy i said what happened he said Sean passed away i said “You sure that Sean passed away?” He said “Yes.” Well I dropped I I just dropped i I couldn’t believe when my husband say Shan pass Shan dead I don’t know what happened after I had my sister and my next sister was here for sitting there from Antigga and they all start to cry i want to know what what happened what happened to my son why that happened and then someone just come and take his life away just like that [Music] within minutes news was spreading across Anguila so many people knew Sha and his family i was in disbelief at first i brushed it off like nonsense and then when I realized there was some truth about it and it sank in I say “Oh wow.” And um I couldn’t believe it it was very saddening it was very saddening for the family and for the neighbors we from the same apartment and um the community that he resided in i drove straight to the parents house and seeing everybody there then I knew it was true but it’s just sad because he never had that opportunity to fulfill or live to his full potential with all the obstacles he had this was his time you know when you get this shocking news from from about someone you know it takes a while to register and you’re going through all the different emotions you’re like but he’s in the UK he’s trying to make a better life he’s trying to progress it’s a myriad of um emotions that just went through me when I heard when I heard the news about Sean in Angula we say you know the devil’s working overtime we just wonder what’s going on what’s really happening to our youth why is it happening i like to get I want to know the why my team had hit the ground running we were doing the solid building blocks of an investigation following up on CCTV following up on witness accounts house to house the first priority of uh of um my investigation was to identify the suspects cctv coverage of the park was poor so although police quickly retrieved this footage it’s impossible to see exactly what happened investigations continued and a breakthrough came when a parent called the police to say their daughter had important information and would like to talk we were given some details in relation to um one that we’d w that an assault had been witnessed that a knife had been used and that there were two young men uh well boys um who had uh um who had been responsible and involved in that attack what my officers and the intelligence was telling us is that these two boys were um 12 years old and uh and that obviously was a point at which um you could look at the investigation think well it’s changed now a little um it’s this is something that is um new what did you think when you heard that they were 12 years old i’ve investigated murders and homicide and major incidents for a long time but it was a surprise a 12 year child to get a weapon like that they supposed to hold something like that just 12 years old i left shock when I see when I when I see them too and when I wore that I couldn’t believe you know um no nobody deserve to die like that as they went to see the 12-year-olds officers very quickly made an important discovery i was told that we’d uh recovered a um blood stained machete um large machete style knife uh and a sheath um from under the bed of one of the suspects in the meantime the eyewitnesses that’s Darren Harrigon and the two girls had given statements which gave investigators a picture of what had happened their versions of events differed slightly but they agreed that there’d been some kind of confrontation words were had which escalated into an argument and then um as they argued uh the um one of the suspects pulled out a knife and the confrontation had turned physical and whilst Don and Sha both tried to run away um upon seeing the knife Sha was uh Sha was caught and he was stabbed and uh and he was left there to die on the playing field we conducted a forensic postmortem um of Sha after he died and we found that he had multiple stab wounds across his body um significantly he had a large stab wound to the back of his skull that had actually cut into um the bone and left a burr and he also had in his back a 23 cm deep um stab wound which went through his chest and pierced his heart [Music] the 12-year-olds were both arrested and charged with Sha’s murder on the morning of November the 17th they appeared at Birmingham Magistrate’s Court because of their ages they can’t be identified their families crowded into the public gallery as both boys looking tiny in the court setting confirmed their names and addresses and were remanded in custody soon after they found more evidence we recovered phone handsets from both suspects and they were of the suspect posing with the knife that we’d later recovered and we could date them as being in the early hours of the morning of the offense so i.e he would have posed with those photos gone to bed had his day and then later gone out and there been involved in the fight where he killed Sha more crucial information was gleaned from the phones there was a Snapchat conversation between the boys and the girls who’d been there which began the morning after Sha was killed it started with a video of the park taken the previous evening along with a message “Someone got stabbed.” Then one of the group said “We know.” An hour later there were more messages everyone’s talking about it then literally everyone at which point the boy who owned the machete left a voice note saying it is what it is his friend replied “I’m scared man.” To which the boy responded “I’m not.” and added “Idrc,” which means I don’t really care next came a voice message from the boy who’d said he was scared part of it was inaudible but he could be heard saying “I ain’t said now because every time I talk about it like I act weird.” Apparently when you again layered all that evidence together um you could have some confidence that the um person using that phone which we would say was the suspect had some knowledge of what had gone on it was 12 days before the CISA highs could make it to the UK but when they arrived they went to Stoawn and held a candle lit vigil for Sha [Music] the boys went on trial at Nottingham Crown Court because of their ages special arrangements were put in place it is about making sure that it’s a sound conviction that the defendants have no choice but to accept that they’ve been treated fairly given every opportunity and the evidence still stands it took place in one of the smallest courtrooms at Nottingham to make it less intimidating for the boys the judge barristers and court staff didn’t wear robes or wigs and the defendant sat in the well of the court not the dock alongside them were specially trained staff who could help explain what was going on and each boy had a family member beside them for emotional support so the conclusion that that the jewelry reach guilty or not guilty is sound and beyond reproach and there’s no risk that you end up having to have a retrol sesh Manaswari traveled to the UK for the trial and sat in court behind the defendants i understand the court is small but at least should put us in front we come from all the way um in the Caribbean and then we go sit at the back of the court i don’t like it imagine the situation where you’re having to come halfway across the world to an unfamiliar place to an unfamiliar justice system to talk about the uh the most horrific thing that’s happened to one of the most important people if not the most important person in your life as the trial opened Michelle Healey KC for the prosecution showed the murder weapon to jurors it was 42 1/2 cm long that’s nearly 17 in i couldn’t believe that the machete they killed my son with that long machete like that i couldn’t believe my skin just you know get cold when I see see that machete the that 12 year you know have that long machete like that and just use it in some somebody so brutal if someone stab you with that you really have to be very lucky to survive during the trial the 12-year-olds blamed each other each describing how an apparently trivial shoulder barge had provoked the attack the jury began its deliberations on Wednesday June the 5th the following Monday a note was sent to the judge to say they’d reached a unanimous verdict we have just heard that two 12-year-old boys have been found guilty of the murder of 19-year-old Sha Cisah well the two boys who cannot be named are believed to be the youngest people convicted of murder since James Bul’s killers were detained in 1993 i was very very nervous but when they come out and they say guilty I was so happy i was so happy i know I can’t see Shan again but at least we get some kind of you know we they find them guilty i knew in my heart of hearts that the two defendants sat in that dock were responsible for murdering Sha and I wanted to see them face justice for that sean’s family will always stand out to me as a particularly dignified and uh and resolute set of people and so I really really for them wanted to see uh justice done i wanted them to have the confidence that even though their son was in a country halfway around the world that we cared that someone would get just someone would secure justice for him someone would go to bat for him in simple terms [Music] the CISAI spent so much of their savings on coming to the UK for the trial that they couldn’t afford to come back for sentencing and have received no financial help i think that um the government is supposed to um contribute because my son didn’t do nothing he he died innocent and all my what we work for go down the drains plus we lose a lot of work and you lost your son and I lost my son and it’s not something easy to lost I don’t care much about the money but why I lost I can’t get back [Music] because they couldn’t be there the CISahigh’s victim statement was read out in court by the Anguilan government’s representative in the UK Doraththa Hodgej in it they said “It has left a huge hole in the pit of our stomachs which nothing can fill we’re devastated as a family totally heartbroken.” They went on to describe the close bond Sha had had with his younger sister Shauna and the impact his death had had on her mental health the impact on us as a family is devastating it’s hard to believe that we will ever come to terms with what has happened we will never get to see Sha get married or have a family of his own all of these things have been taken from us for what appears to be no reason at all the next day the boys who are both now 13 returned to court to be given their sentences we learned the first had been groomed and trafficked and led into criminality while the other was regarded as more mature with a greater understanding of what happened murder is the most serious criminal offense and the sentence is fixed by law there is only one sentence I can give the defendants in this case and because of their age it is called detention during his majesty’s pleasure they were told they could be released after serving 8 and a half years in custody however they will remain on license for life the CIA highs believe that the sentence was too lenient and didn’t reflect the severity of the crime i know it eaten my husband inside every single day he always say um you know it’s so hard he can’t see his son again but I just want good good justice for my child i really want good justice for my son i just hope and pray that we get we get good justice for him 3 days before the boys were sentenced new legislation came into effect banning the sale of weapons of the type used to kill Sha tens of thousands of weapons were also handed in during an amnesty the impact of knife crime is devastating no matter where you live in the country this is an issue that affects us all sha was only 19 when his life was taken at the hands of two boys then aged just 12 who had armed themselves with a machete that reality has had a huge impact on us all it is both shocking and saddening well the night prime is really real and they have to stop it back in Anguila Sha’s death has had a huge impact on a close-knit community there’s so many victims and so many people hurting um I mean we have an island hurting there’s the whole nearly everybody he lived in the valley everybody in the valley all the youth they’re very upset being in such a small island you hear a lot of stories before you actually hear the truth and that makes it even shocking cuz you’re trying to now understand hope okay how do a 12-year-old have these weapons what would provoke a 12year-old to you know take a life we did not only lose Sean but we also lost the two young boys who had a whole future in front of them and that was what it came to and Sean had lost his life and these youngsters also lost their life so their parents I believe would also be in some sort of mourning just as Shan parents were 3 months after the boys had been told they must spend at least 8 and 1/2 years in custody the court of appeal ruled that the sentence had been unduly lenient and increased that minimum term to 10 years each the CISahigh family said they felt that it better reflected the gravity of the case and would send a stronger and clearer message that carrying weapons would not be tolerated sha’s mother often returns to his favorite beach where they shared many happy memories and where after his body had been repatriated and cremated they scattered his ashes it’s so hard right now i can’t even explain it but it’s very hard now it bring back all memory from the day he died and everything I did and bring his ash and loose it is so hard there’s only one son I have and that pain is that pain is very very hard i only have one not anymore just him alone every day wake up you cry you go to the bathroom the time you wake up doing anything I my mind on him beware and then come today now and come back and see where I lose this ash make it even worse [Music]