A schizophrenic Lithuanian killer who stabbed a nine-year-old in the heart at random while she played with a hula hoop in the street has been convicted of murder.
Lilia Valutyte was killed by Deividas Skebas, 26, in the town centre of Boston, Lincolnshire, outside her mother’s embroidery shop.
Harrowing video footage caught Lilia’s final moments as she cheerfully played in the street with her friend, before she was savagely attacked.
Skebas approached the pair shortly before 6.20 pm on July 28, 2022, stabbing Lilia once in the chest.
Lilia’s mother, Lina Savickiene, cradled her daughter as she died.
In a victim impact statement read by her husband, Aurelijus Savickas, the grieving mother said: ‘During these nine years we lived life fully, we visited many places, we didn’t stand still.
‘This is not something you recover from. Sometimes, terrifying thoughts overwhelm the mind, and during this trial, there have been many, many more.
‘Why her? Why us? The questions remain unanswered. Nothing will bring our child back, the pain will not disappear, and the tears shed will not wash it away.’
Skebas had admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but was convicted of murder by a jury at Lincoln Crown Court.
Prosecutors demonstrated that he was aware of his acts and took precautions to evade detection. Two days before the murder, CCTV captured him purchasing a knife, stalking the neighbourhood, killing Lilia, and then running away.
After the killing, Skebas said he had ‘the power to resurrect’ Lilia if the police contacted ‘his controller in Nasa’.
Christopher Donnellan KC told jurors: ‘This deliberate murder was clearly a wicked act. He knew his conduct was wrong. He knew he was killing a child.’
There was no argument that Skebas, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, killed Lilia, but the jury had to determine what his state of mind was at the time of the attack.
Mr Justice Choudhury did not address the defendant, who watched on a link from Rampton high security hospital, after he adjourned the case for sentence on February 25.
Mrs Savickiene added: ‘From the bottom of our hearts, we thank those who were not afraid to stand by us and support our family during the hardest time.
‘No matter how strong we may appear, there are moments when all we need is to know that we are needed and not alone.
‘Your presence meant more than words can express.’
Mr Savickas became Lilia’s stepfather when she was three, he said in his statement.
‘From that moment we walked our journey together,’ he said.
‘Becoming her stepfather was new for both of us, but I loved her as my own and always tried to be there for her.’
He said she was a ‘beautiful soul’ with a ‘strong character’.
He added: ‘Lilia, you will always live in our hearts, you are forever loved, forever missed.’
During the trial, defence barrister Andrew Campbell-Tiech KC told the jury Skebas was ‘quite obviously deluded’.
He said clinicians treating the killer doubted he will recover.
Skebas was transferred from prison to Rampton Hospital in December 2022.
How much longer will this craziness continue before someone takes action? Nobody appears to care enough to halt the criminal collapse that our nation is on the verge of.
I have never known the UK to be so dangerous as it is now. There are so many no-go zones, and people are feeling less and less safe. I would even go so far as to say that it’s worse than the war years, at least people knew what to expect; everything is so random, and you just never know what’s waiting for you around the corner.
With more and more families being directly affected. It’s only a matter of time before some father with nothing left to lose takes direct and brutal action against the source of the problem – politicians.
Government doesn’t care, the evidence is there time and time again, and with governments before. Not one of them is there for us, or this once amazing country, as can be seen ‘now’. They are there for no one but themselves. I used to believe that society as a whole would wake up one day, sadly, I believe this country has had it.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 