Teenager picked up knife to scare group, trial hears

A teenager accused of fatally stabbing a 14-year-old boy during a fight arranged on social media has told a court he picked up a kitchen knife after seeing a large group gather outside his home.

The 15-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, denies murdering Christopher McBurnie in Ramsey on 29 May last year.

Giving evidence, he said he was "scared" after looking out of his kitchen window and seeing what appeared to be "20 or 30 people" outside, prompting him to "grab a knife" from a block.

His defence says he acted in self-defence, but prosecutors argue he murdered Christopher.

The court has previously heard the defendant had been diagnosed with autism and ADHD and was later found to have low intellectual functioning and social anxiety.

Questioned by his advocate, Siobhan Grey KC, he said he put the knife in his left trouser pocket after seeing the group outside his home through a kitchen window.

Asked why he had carried it there despite being right-handed, he replied: "Because I didn't want to use it", adding that he only intended to "scare them away".

The teenager told jurors he feared members of the group would smash the windows and enter the house.

Although only Christopher had come through the garden gate when he stepped outside, the defendant said another teenager was standing nearby and he believed he was about to be attacked by several people.

"I thought I was going to be attacked by multiple people," he said.

He told the court Christopher hit him twice on the head, after which he showed him the knife in an attempt to "scare him off".

The defendant said he took the weapon from his pocket because he "felt under threat" when Christopher did not "run off" as he had hoped.

Asked if he remembered what happened next, he replied: "Not clearly."

When Grey asked: "We know Christopher was stabbed, do you remember what happened?", the defendant answered: "Not really."

The court heard the two teenagers had never met in person before the day of Christopher's death.

Giving evidence, the defendant said they had exchanged insults "back and forth" since he was added to a Snapchat group chat about three years earlier, although this happened only about once a year.

He told jurors their latest argument began on another person's TikTok livestream on 28 May before continuing on Snapchat into the early hours of the following day.

The defendant said a friend of Christopher's had challenged him to a fight in Douglas about a year earlier, but he did not attend because he was "scared" and did not want to "get jumped".

He claimed Christopher had initiated the dispute on 28 May and that the pair exchanged insults about each other's fathers.

The court heard Christopher, who lived in Castletown, suggested they meet in Douglas to fight because it was "half way for both of us", but the defendant repeatedly replied: "come Ramsey".

Asked why he had been sending insulting messages, the defendant said: "I was miles away so I just thought I could."

Questioned about a message in which he told Christopher he would kill him, the defendant said he had not meant it.

The court heard other boys added to the group chat had discussed making the fight "two on two" before asking whether he would "do a two on one", to which he replied yes.

Asked how he felt about other people being added to the chat, he said he felt "quite targeted".

The defendant told jurors he continued responding because he feared being "ridiculed" if he did not and believed that, if he left the chat, he would "just be added back in anyway".

Asked why he posted his address when Christopher requested it, he replied: "I didn't think anything would happen."

The court heard the defendant was the first to post in the group chat later on 29 May, writing: "Better come today."

Asked why he sent the message, he said he "just wanted to get the first word in" and "didn't expect anything to come from it".

Among the subsequent exchanges, he again described Christopher as a "verbalist", which he said meant someone who was "all talk".

Christopher later posted a message saying he was "going bus stop now", followed by a photograph of his legs and feet at a bus stop.

However, the defendant told the court he did not believe Christopher was travelling to Ramsey at that stage.

The defence case is due to continue at Douglas Courthouse.

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