Two 13-year-old boys - believed to be the youngest knife murderers in the UK - have been convicted of the brutal killing of 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai. This film looks back at the harrowing case, including interviews with Shawn's devastated parents and CCTV footage of him and his friends before the incident.
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00:00Two 13-year-old boys are thought to have become the youngest knife murderers in the UK after
00:16being found guilty of a machete attack on a complete stranger.
00:21Sean Cesar High, 19, died when he was stabbed through the heart in a Wolverhampton park
00:27on November 13 last year, while visiting with friends.
00:32They caught the tram from Birmingham and got off at a stop before Wolverhampton city centre
00:38and were simply passing time when the evening took a sinister turn.
00:44The friends were passing the two school boys, who were 12 at the time, when Sean was shoulder
00:48barged by the shorter of the two defendants, who the trial jury heard often carried a machete
00:54with a 42.5cm long blade.
00:59The weapon had been taken out of one of the boys trousers and was made available to be
01:04used despite the fact that Sean and his friend had offered no violence or had done anything
01:11to offend the youths.
01:13Sean was sadly pronounced dead at 9.11pm after police and paramedics were called to the scene.
01:22Sean was a 19-year-old young man with his whole life in front of him.
01:26We knew he'd been subject to a brutal knife attack.
01:30Inquiries continued around the clock, 24 hours, and by the evening of the following day we'd
01:37had some information that allowed us to identify the two suspects.
01:41What was shocking for the investigation team was that the two suspects were both 12 years old.
01:49After a month-long trial in June, the boys were convicted of murdering Sean after his
01:54friend explained that he was forced to run for his life, but Sean stumbled to the ground
02:00as he tried to flee from the school boys, who were 12 years old, at the time of the
02:04shocking incident.
02:07Sean was punched, stamped on and struck with the weapon with force as they took turns to
02:14attack him.
02:17After refusing to answer police questions in the aftermath of the murder, during the
02:21trial held in Nottingham, the boys blamed each other for inflicting the fatal blow.
02:28As well as failing to summon help for Sean, the youth showed no remorse for what they
02:32had done in the 24 hours before their arrest, with one cleaning the machete with bleach
02:38and hiding it under his bed.
02:40They told the court they both played video games in the hours after the killing, claiming
02:45they did not know the victim had died until the following day.
02:50But the trial held in Nottingham heard how one of the defendants posed wearing a mask
02:55with the murder weapon for a picture hours before the killing, and was found to have
03:0011 areas of blood staining on his clothing.
03:04The boy was also seen with blood on his hands in the aftermath of the murder, while his
03:09friend had a small area of blood staining on his trainers.
03:14The killing, just yards from a primary school, shocked the whole community, which held a
03:19candlelit vigil at the scene, attended by families and community leaders.
03:25It is the latest murder in the black country involving under-18s carrying machetes or zombie
03:30knives, often bought on the internet.
03:35Family members of both the victim and the defendants cried and hugged in the public
03:39gallery as the jurors found both boys guilty of murder, and one of them of possessing a
03:45bladed article.
03:48Sean's parents, Suresh and Mansooris Sisahai, travelled from their Caribbean island home
03:54in Anguilla to attend the trial.
03:58Sean had been in the UK for only a few months when he was set upon and killed.
04:03He had travelled here for treatment for cataracts, and was staying in the Handsworth area of
04:07Birmingham.
04:09His devastated parents said they will never be able to get over the loss of their 19-year-old
04:14son, who had always told them he would shine and take care of them.
04:39He said, Sean, just stop.
04:40I said, Sean, it's OK.
04:42He said, no, Sean, pass away.
04:46It hit me so hard that I can't really see what to do next.
04:53And he always will be remembered because that's my father and a mother, and he have a sister.
05:00She keeps saying that now soon she will graduate next two years from now.
05:05She expects her brother should be there.
05:07She's crying that she don't have a brother anymore, and that affect us a lot when she
05:13say things like that.
05:15She keep crying.
05:16It's hard on her right now.
05:18It's very hard on her.
05:22He want his own house, he want his own car.
05:25You know, mommy, I want to shine in my life.
05:28I can't see my son married, don't have a wife.
05:32I can't see no grandchildren for me.
05:36It's very hard.
05:38Sean, you must remember, we always will remember you until God ready for us.
05:43One day we will see each other, right?
05:47I love you, Sean.
05:52Suresh Seesahai said he feels sorry for the parents of the killers and only hopes that
05:56justice is served for his son, who was utterly defenceless on the ground when the fatal blow
06:02was struck.
06:05Sean had been hit hard to the skull with the machete, had slash wounds on his leg,
06:11and most significantly, he had an injury from the machete that went through his body, from
06:17his back, through his ribs and into his heart.
06:21The Seesahais have questioned how a child so young could have had a weapon like a machete
06:26with them as they walk the streets, and why Sean's killers were not at home with their
06:31families at that time of the night.
06:36Following the police investigation, Sean's funeral was held back at home in the Caribbean.
06:43Hello everyone, I was Sean's girlfriend.
06:46I am proud to say that Sean was such a wonderful man.
06:49He was a wonderful boyfriend, a wonderful son, brother, classmate, friends, and so much
06:54more.
06:55He was ambitious, fearless, courageous, funny, caring, and loving person I know.
07:00He has a big heart.
07:02He touched so many lives with his kind heart.
07:05He was my inspiration.
07:07He supported me for every decision that I made in life, and he was always there to encourage
07:11and inspire me.
07:13He made me feel safe, protected, seen, and understood.
07:16He respected me for who I am and the person I've grown to become.
07:20We dream together, we laugh together, we can even sit in silence together.
07:25His thoughtfulness never goes unnoticed, and his advice is always valuable to me.
07:31His voice of reasons keeps me grounded, and his patience with me was a true testament
07:36of his love.
07:37His kind heart never fails to make me feel loved and cherished.
07:41He has a special talent for creating the most beautiful memories that I will treasure forever.
07:47His strength inspires me.
07:49His loyalty is unmatched, and his laughter and smile bring so much joy into my life.
07:56His reassuring voice and words of encouragement always gives me the strength to keep going.
08:02In my heart, he will always have a special spot that nobody can replace because he accepted
08:07me for the person I am.
08:12Most people don't know his story, his struggle, his hustle, his prayers.
08:16Most people don't know he was fighting.
08:18Meeting him in Guyana of 2019 was the best part of my whole life.
08:23My world transformed.
08:24He took my heart and soul, and I cannot imagine my life without him.
08:31High Court Judge Mrs Justice Tipples described the case as tragic and distressing.
08:38She has since ruled that an automatic ban on publicly naming the child killers will
08:43not be lifted on grounds that the welfare of the youths who both face a mandatory life
08:48sentence outweighed the wider public interest and open justice principles.
08:54They were the youngest defendants convicted of murder in Britain since Robert Thompson
08:58and John Venables, both aged 11, were found guilty in 1993 of killing two-year-old James
09:05Bulger in Bootle, Merseyside.
09:08When Sean Ceterhuis' killers are sentenced, they will be aged 13.
09:13The government is pledging to do more to tackle knife killings by banning machetes and so-called
09:18zombie knives, and making it harder to buy blades online.
09:23Two 13-year-olds have been told today that they will serve at least the next eight years
09:38in custody for the murder of Sean Ceterhuis on a playing field in Wolverhampton.
09:42The boys were only 12 years old when they attacked Sean in November last year.
09:46On the 13th of November, the younger of the boys got home from school, changed into a
09:50tracksuit and went out with a machete he had bought from a friend of a friend for £40.
09:54He met up with the other boy, and later that evening they crossed paths with Sean's see-sye
09:58in Bilston.
09:59Within seconds, Sean was dead, with horrific wounds including a 23cm deep cut that pierced
10:04his heart.
10:05Sean was only 19 himself and had been in the UK for just a few months, after his family
10:09moved to the West Midlands from their home in the Caribbean, so Sean could get treatment
10:13for his eyesight and improve his education.
10:16His young killers were sentenced in Nottingham Crime Court today for the crime of murder
10:19after they were found guilty.
10:21It's extremely unusual for children to be convicted of murder in this country, and for
10:24people under the age of 18 it carries a mandatory sentence of what is called detention during
10:28His Majesty's Pleasure.
10:30What that means in practical terms is it's a life sentence, which means they will only
10:33ever be released after a parole board finds they can be reintegrated into society.
10:38That can only happen after what's called a minimum term, in this case that is eight years
10:42and six months, meaning the two boys who killed Sean will be in custody until 2032 at the
10:47very earliest, when they will both be 20 years old.
10:50In court yesterday we heard a victim impact statement from Sean C. Sy's devastated family.
10:55We heard how heartbroken the entire family was by the loss of Sean, who was described
10:59as humble, hardworking and always happy to help with chores around the house or his father's
11:03construction work.
11:05His younger sister was especially badly affected by the loss of her brother.
11:09The two defendants are the only ones now who know exactly what happened that night in Bilston,
11:12but we heard at a trial earlier this year that there was a confrontation around a park
11:16bench where Sean and a friend had been sitting.
11:18The attack lasted seconds.
11:20One of the boys later tried to clean the blade with bleach.
11:24Both of the 12-year-olds, now 13, were arrested the following day.
11:27They always denied murder and blamed each other for the killing, but they were found
11:31guilty in June this year by a jury after a trial that lasted a month.
11:34We understand these are the youngest people to be convicted of murder in the UK since
11:38the Jamie Bolger case 30 years ago.