A man deemed unfit to stand trial killed a nine-year-old girl by stabbing her in the heart as she played in the street, a jury has ruled.
Deividas Skebas was unanimously determined to have physically committed the act of killing Lilia Valutyte, despite a court deciding he was unfit to plead or face a conventional trial due to his mental health.
Lilia suffered a single stab wound to the chest in Boston, Lincolnshire, on the afternoon of last 28 July.
She was playing with a hula hoop at the time.
Jurors took around 15 minutes to find Skebas, 23, was the girl’s attacker after a two-day trial of the facts at Lincoln Crown Court.
A defendant cannot be criminally convicted but the jury must be satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that they physically carried out the act, while not considering intent or state of mind.
The judge, Mrs Justice McGowan, is expected to sentence Skebas to a hospital order – the only sentence available – later.
She told the jury: “It’s been an unusually short case and you have dealt with issues that if this were a normal trial would have taken a couple of weeks.
“You have dealt with some very unpleasant material and I’m afraid that that is what juries do.”
