Lilia Valutyte Murder: Schizophrenic Man Jailed
A schizophrenic man, Deividas Skebas, has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years after being convicted of the "wicked" murder of nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte in Boston, Lincolnshire, in an unprovoked attack in July 2022.
Lilia Valutyte was tragically killed by Deividas Skebas, 26, in July 2022 while she was playing with a hula hoop in the street outside her mum’s embroidery shop in Boston, Lincolnshire. Skebas had denied murdering Lilia but admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, citing a history of illnesses including schizophrenia.
He was convicted of murder by a jury at Lincoln Crown Court, who were told by prosecutor Christopher Donnellan KC: ‘This deliberate murder was clearly a wicked act. He knew his conduct was wrong. He knew he was killing a child.’ Today, he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years.
Judge Condemns 'Shocking and Horrific Act'
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Mr Justice Choudhury 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’ on her. He added: ‘She should have been safe. She was playing in a pedestrianised area and just yards away from her mum.’
During the trial, Mr Donnellan explained that Lilia had been ‘in and out’ of the shop and her mum, Lina Savickiene, checked on her ‘quite often’, before she heard her child call out for help. He said: ‘The street, not accessible to through-traffic, was empty. Barely anyone was about, it was quiet. Lilia was playing with a hula hoop around her.’
‘The defendant, Deividas Skebas, was waiting. He waited while other pedestrians moved out of the way. When they left the immediate area and had gone… he approached from the Wormgate end of Fountain Lane.’
Mother's Horrifying Discovery
Mr Donnellan continued: ‘He put the knife straight into the middle of Lilia, and the force of it appears to have knocked her back towards some shutters on the adjoining shop. That stab wound went straight through her heart, and she fell there in the street. He ran off.’
In a poignant statement, Mrs Savickiene described finding her daughter ‘covered in blood and with the hoop around her’ after the stabbing. She recalled: ‘She was getting pale. She collapsed in my hands. I saw the wounds, started to cover them. I just got scared, started to shout for somebody to help me.’ Jurors heard Lilia was declared dead within an hour of the attack.
Skebas's Actions Before and After the Crime
Skebas had purchased a Sabatier paring knife from a Wilko shop in the town two days before he killed Lilia, the jury was informed. In the days following the attack, Skebas shaved his beard, hid the knife behind a radiator, and attempted to leave the country on a bus to Lithuania.
The court heard that Skebas was arrested on July 30, but his mental health was ‘declining’, leading to his transfer to hospital. After his arrest, he claimed there was a ‘form of control over him and his actions’, referencing Nasa and a microchip. Defending, Andrew Campbell-Tiech KC told the jury Skebas was ‘quite obviously deluded’, and clinicians treating the killer doubted he would recover.
