'I doubt anyone there that night will forget what they saw... so many lives were ruined'
20.06.2024 - 12:09
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Army cadet Nathaniel Shani was just 14-years-old when he died after being brutally stabbed to the neck in an alleyway in Harpurhey.
Tragedy struck on September 15, 2023, after a row erupted over cannabis being stolen. Nathaniel was found with serious injuries after the incident in Tavistock Square.
Two boys, Boy A, aged 15, and Boy B, aged 14, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were both found guilty of his murder following a trial at Manchester Crown Court earlier this year.
READ MORE Two teens jailed for life for the murder of Nathaniel Shani
Following the brutal murder, a DCI within Greater Manchester Police has issued a powerful message about the destruction caused by young people carrying, and using knives, saying: "There is no positive outcome, it’s a split-second decision to use a knife and the aftermath will always fatal."
The court previously heard how Nathaniel and Boy A had met in an alleyway off Tavistock Square as part of a ‘fight to settle differences’. On the day of the killing, cannabis had been stolen from a friend of Nathaniel’s by Boy B.
An arrangement was made to meet to ‘sort things’, the court was told. Nathaniel arrived in the square at about 6pm and met with Boy A and Boy B. During the confrontation Nathaniel punched Boy A, who then produced a knife and stabbed him to the neck.
Nathaniel was seen clutching his neck after being knifed, before collapsing in the square. He was pronounced dead at 7.08pm.
At trial, Boy A admitted stabbing Nathaniel and said he regretted doing so, but he denied murder. He claimed that Nathaniel was acting 'aggressively' and that he had threatened to stab him, and so was 'acting in self defence'. Boy A said he had armed himself for 'protection'. Boy B admitted