Murder accused said he was 'cursed', court told
PA MediaA man accused of the murder of a nine-year-old girl sent messages to his family in the hours after her death - one saying "someone cursed me badly", a court heard.
Lilia Valutyte was playing outside a shop where her mother was working in Boston, Lincolnshire, when she was attacked by Deividas Skebas on 28 July 2022.
Skebas, 26, admits killing Lilia, but denies murder, claiming his responsibility was diminished by his mental state.
A jury at Lincoln Crown Court heard he asked his family for money and told them he needed to get a minibus home in the hours after Lilia was killed.
The court heard he told his father: "I don't want to be here."
The jury also heard evidence from Laura Cross, a senior medical clinician who visited Skebas in his cell on 30 July 2022.
She said Skebas initially appeared "very calm" and was "quite cool and calculated".
"He gave me good eye contact for the majority of the time," she told the jury.
The clinician said the situation only changed when she told him a child had been harmed.
"He looked a bit shaken, said 'no, no' and turned his head to the floor," she said.
The court was told Skebas had previously been sectioned and detained in a UK mental health unit during 2020.
Cross said she asked Skebas if he was still hearing voices to which he replied he was feeling fine.
"I asked him why he was in custody [and] he said because he had been seen on CCTV," she added.
She was later asked by the defence if she may have "missed one or two signs" of the "chronic and, perhaps, untreatable", schizophrenia Skebas has been diagnosed with. She replied "no".
The prosecution has rejected Skebas's claim of diminished responsibility and alleges the killing was "deliberate and planned".
The trial continues.
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