A family friend staying temporarily at the home initially thought nine-year-old Aria Thorpe was “messing around” when he found her lying face down on the floor. It was only after spotting blood on her arm that he realized she had been fatally stabbed, a court heard.
Ollie Sheppard told Bristol Crown Court that he returned home after work that evening and entered the house via the rear door through the kitchen shortly after 6pm. He described the atmosphere inside as “cold” and silent, with one kitchen drawer left wide open and the family dogs confined to the kitchen, which was normal when no one was present.
Walking down the hallway, he encountered a partially blocked door under the stairs but managed to push through. That’s when he saw Aria lying on the floor “tucked in by the door, face down.” Thinking she was playing around, he called out her name. Only after noticing blood on her arm and her bloodstained school top did he realize something was seriously wrong.
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“My first instinct was to ring her mother, but she didn’t answer as she was at work,” he told the court. He left a note urging her mother to contact him immediately, then called emergency services. Instructions from the call handler directed him to perform CPR, which he continued until paramedics arrived.
Neighbour Shalyna Chaplain testified she was feeding her toddler and watching television when she heard loud shouting from next door shortly before 6pm. She described the noise as two upset voices escalating over approximately four minutes, which she found unusual for the area. Initially believing the voices were outside by the front of the house, she was only alarmed when ambulances arrived, regretting that she hadn’t turned down the television to hear more clearly.
During cross-examination, the defence suggested she may have heard only one male voice rather than two. Chaplain maintained she was fairly certain there were two voices.
Chaplain’s partner, Ashley Mansell, also gave a statement, recalling hearing a male voice say “No, no, no” in disbelief between 5:57pm and 6:07pm, followed shortly by ambulance sirens.
The court previously heard that after the stabbing, the 16-year-old defendant left the scene and went to a nearby railway station, where he told children he had stabbed someone. He was arrested minutes later while sitting on a train carriage.
A post-mortem revealed Aria suffered a single stab wound to the chest and would have died very swiftly. The defendant denies charges of murder and manslaughter. The trial continues before Mrs Justice O’Farrell.