A 16-year-old boy on trial for the murder of nine-year-old Aria Thorpe has recounted the moment she was fatally stabbed, insisting he intended only to scare her.
Aria died from a knife wound to her chest at her home in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, on December 15 last year. The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, denies charges of murder and manslaughter.
During his testimony at Bristol Crown Court, the teenager described picking up a kitchen knife and approaching Aria, who was sitting on the sofa. “Aria stood up, and I was waving the knife around,” he explained. “Then at some point, I decided to try and make her flinch and scare her, to get a reaction. I leaned forward, acted like I was fencing.”
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He said Aria was standing right in front of him. “She had almost taken a step forward but stopped before she could,” he recalled. “I don’t know what she was doing. Then the knife went into her. I pulled it out but didn’t know what to do. She put her hand to her chest.”
Aria collapsed face down on the floor. The boy said, “I thought she had died. I panicked and ran to the kitchen, where I put the knife in the sink.”
He then left the house and went to nearby Worle train station, where he told some children that he had accidentally killed Aria. Borrowing a phone from one of the children, he searched online for “what happens if you kill…”. Another child called 999, and police arrested the boy shortly after he boarded a train.
The defendant admitted he did not check on Aria, call an ambulance, or raise the alarm after the stabbing.
Asked by his lawyer how he felt about what happened, the boy responded, “I felt horrible.”
The next day, during a police interview, the boy gave a prepared statement admitting he had “stabbed her in the chest” but did not mention it was an accident. He explained, “All I thought was I was the one who murdered Aria and just wanted to admit guilt. I took the blame because it was my fault.”
Home Office pathologist Dr. Amanda Jeffery told the court that Aria died from a single stab wound that penetrated her heart. She added the injury would have caused a very swift death.
On the day of the tragedy, Aria attended school and was later picked up from an after-school dance class by her mother, Tori Hull, at about 4:30pm. The two went shopping for mini-pizza ingredients and made pizzas together before Ms. Hull left for work while Aria watched YouTube videos.
Family friend Ollie Sheppard, staying temporarily in the home, returned around 6pm to find Aria collapsed on the living room floor. He immediately called 999, and emergency responders arrived shortly after. Aria was pronounced dead at 6:58pm.
The trial continues before Mrs. Justice O’Farrell.