A man stabbed a nine-year-old girl to death as she played in the street. Lilia Valutyte was knifed in the heart by Deividas Skebas outside a shop where her mother was working.
CCTV footage showed him taking a knife from the pocket of his jeans on July 28, 2022. He ran along a road and stabbed Lilia once in the chest before running away.
Skebas, 23, was deemed unfit to plead or face a conventional trial due to his mental health and was the subject of a two-day trial of the facts at a crown court hearing.
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Skebas attacked Lilia eight days after returning to the UK for a second time from his home country of Lithuania, Lincoln Crown Court was told. A jury was shown video footage of him running at about 6.15pm on July 28. Lilia was declared dead at 7.11pm at Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital.
Prosecutor Christopher Donnellan KC said a Sabatier paring knife, bought by Skebas two days before the killing in the town’s Wilko shop, was later found at his home in Thorold Street, Boston. A t-shirt, stained with Lilia’s blood, was also found, and Skebas, in an interview with police, admitted stabbing the schoolgirl.
On Tuesday (July 11), he was detained in a secure hospital for an indefinite period – the only sentence the court could pass. It came hours after jurors returned their determination after about 15 minutes of deliberation.
'Grief and suffering beyond imagination'
Judge Mrs Justice McGowan DBE said: “The grief and suffering of (Lilia's) family has been beyond imagination. Given the fact that (Skebas) has been found to have killed a child, I am of the opinion that the only appropriate way to deal with the case is to make an order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
“Therefore I make an order that he be readmitted to and detained at Rampton Hospital.”
The judge also ordered a restriction under section 41 of the Mental Health Act, which means Skebas can only be discharged from hospital if the Justice Secretary approves it. Jurors were not asked to deliver a guilty or not guilty verdict or determine if Skebas intended to kill – instead only determining if he physically did what he was accused of.
Skebas was not present for his sentencing, did not attend the trial and did not play any part in proceedings. He may face a conventional trial for murder if his mental health improves.
