A man who stabbed a nine-year-old girl outside her mother’s embroidery shop has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years.
Deividas Skebas, 26, fatally stabbed Lilia Valutyte in the heart while she was playing with a hula hoop in Boston on 28 July 2022. The Lithuanian national, who has schizophrenia, denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Lilia’s mother, Lina Savickiene, said she found her daughter “covered in blood and with the hoop around her”.
Mother Describes Moments After Fatal Boston Attack
She initially thought “something might have happened” with the hula hoop and described shouting for help while trying to cover her daughter’s wounds as the child became pale. An off-duty police officer attempted to save Lilia, but the efforts were unsuccessful.
Skebas had previously been judged mentally unfit to stand trial in 2023. However, that assessment changed in spring 2025, and a criminal trial began at Lincoln Crown Court in January this year.
Jurors heard there was no dispute that he had killed Lilia, but they were required to determine his state of mind at the time of the attack.
Judge Condemns ‘Shocking And Horrific’ Violence
Prosecutors argued Skebas knew what he was doing when he stabbed Lilia — who would have turned 13 this year — and that he attempted to evade capture.
Skebas appeared via video link from the high-security Rampton Hospital in Nottinghamshire, wearing a navy zip-up jumper. He stared ahead without visible reaction as Mr Justice Choudhury delivered the sentence on Wednesday.
In his remarks, the judge described Lilia as a “happy, lively girl as carefree as any nine-year-old should be”, adding that Skebas committed a “shocking and horrific act of violence” against her.
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He added: “She should have been safe. She was playing in a pedestrianised area and just yards away from her mum.”
Mr Justice Choudhury also noted Skebas had used drugs including cannabis and amphetamines, which would “likely worsen” his schizophrenia.
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