The final moments of 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai have been revealed as CCTV footage shows the victim walking to a park minutes before being attacked by two 12-year-old boys with a machete. The footage, which captures Seesahai’s last steps, comes as his father warns of the increasing dangers posed by today’s youth.
Seesahai’s murder by the two boys, the youngest convicted for murder since the 1993 case of James Bulger, has shocked the nation. The incident occurred on November 13 last year at Stowlawn playing fields in Wolverhampton. The boys were found guilty of Seesahai’s murder on Monday, marking them as the youngest perpetrators of a knife-related murder in the UK.
On the day of the attack, Seesahai was seen leaving Handsworth in Birmingham with two friends, getting off a tram at Priestfield tram stop in Wolverhampton, and heading towards the park where he later encountered the attackers. CCTV captured Seesahai and a friend visiting a local petrol station before returning to the park, where the fatal attack occurred.
During the trial at Nottingham Crown Court, jurors heard how the boys blamed each other for the attack, but were both convicted. One blow from the machete almost passed through Seesahai’s body, demonstrating the ferocity of the assault.
The boys, who had been “roaming the streets” with the weapon, set upon Seesahai in an unprovoked attack. One defendant had previously pleaded guilty to possessing the machete, while the other was convicted of the same charge during the trial.
Seesahai had traveled from Anguilla to Birmingham for cataract surgery and had settled in Handsworth. On the evening of the murder, he was with friends Deron Harrigan and Jamal Clarke, who was visiting his girlfriend in Wolverhampton.
Prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC described how Seesahai was attacked after a minor confrontation with the boys. The attack involved punching, kicking, stamping, and “chopping” at Seesahai with the machete.
Seesahai’s father, Suresh, expressed his grief and urged parents to pay more attention to their children to prevent such tragedies. “Kids are dangerous now,” he said. “He was always with me, from the time he was born and growing up.”
The case has highlighted the alarming trend of youth violence in the UK. The two boys will be sentenced later this year, and their conviction serves as a grim reminder of the devastating consequences of knife crime.