A 15-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to the murder of another teenager in Bristol who had been mistakenly identified as the perpetrator of an attack on a house, a court has heard.
Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, were fatally attacked in Ilminster Avenue, in the Knowle West area of Bristol, on the evening of 27 January this year.
A jury at Bristol crown court heard on Thursday that a 15-year-old boy, who was 14 at the time of the attack, had pleaded guilty to the murder of Mason.
The defendant denied murdering Max and would face trial for the charge.
A 17-year-old, who was 16 at the time of the killings, had also admitted manslaughter in the case of Max but denied murdering either boy and would face trial for both counts, the jury was told.
The two teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, along with Antony Snook, 45, Riley Tolliver, 18, and a 16-year-old boy face charges of murder for both victims. The other defendants deny the charges.
The court heard earlier that Max and Mason had been mistaken for the perpetrators of an attack on a house linked to a long-running postcode rivalry between residents of Hartcliffe, or BS13, and Knowle, or BS4.
The jury was told the group set out with “pretty fearsome weapons” with “the desire for revenge” and were shown two machetes recovered after the attack.
On Thursday the court heard postmortem examinations by Dr Russell Delaney found that Mason sustained two stab wounds, one to the back, which was 8cm deep and went through his left lung, and another through the chest, which was 6.5cm wide and 21.5cm deep.
Delaney concluded that both wounds would have resulted in “instant severe blood loss and were unsurvivable injuries”.
Max sustained a stab wound to his right side, which was 15cm deep and went through his liver, as well as bruising to his shoulder.
The court heard that Snook accepted he drove the four younger defendants to Ilminster Avenue while they were armed and seeking revenge but he denied knowing that was what he was doing.
Ray Tully KC, prosecuting, earlier said Snook’s account was “simply false”.
“It is literally incredible,” he said. “It has no foundation in truth. We suggest he cannot have failed to have noticed he was transporting a car full of young people who were armed to the teeth with weapons, and they were hellbent on revenge for what happened earlier that evening.”
Tully explained to the jury the case was being brought against the defendants as joint enterprise and added that those who were proven to have encouraged and assisted in the physical act of killing would also be guilty of the charge.
The trial continues.
Source: theguardian.com
