12-year-old boys guilty of machete attack are youngest murderers since Jamie Bulger’s killer

Although the friend did not see the “brutal attack” that followed, Ms Heeley said a young girl who had been with the 12-year-olds told police that both were in possession of the machete and that one of them often carried it with her.

The witness described how a boy picked up the machete and held it in the air.

Ms Heeley added: ‘She told police she saw (one defendant) striking Mr Seesahai’s legs with the machete and she also saw (the other defendant) striking his head and stamping on it with his feet.

“The prosecution says the two boys acted together to attack a man who had done nothing wrong, an unarmed man who was lying on the ground completely defenseless.

“We are saying that these two boys acted together and intended to kill Mr Seesahai, or at least they intended to cause him really serious harm.”

She added: “As a result of their actions, Shawn Seesahai died at the scene. He had been hit on the skull with the machete so hard that a piece of bone had actually broken off.

“He had cuts on his leg and, most seriously, a machete wound that had pierced his body from his back, through his ribs, to his heart.”

Defendants accused each other of the fatal blow

After refusing to answer police questions following the murder, both boys testified before the jury and blamed each other for the fatal shove.

The jury heard that one of the defendants had posed for a photograph with the murder weapon a few hours before the murder and eleven bloodstains were discovered on his clothing.

The boy also had blood on his hands after the murder and his friend had a small blood stain on his right sneaker.