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17th April 2023
12:34pm BST
A 23-year-old man accused of murdering a nine-year-old girl has been deemed unfit to stand trial.
Deividas Skebas was charged with stabbing Lilia Valutyte to death as she played with her little sister outside a café in Boston, Lincolnshire, on July 28 last year.
Lilia was playing with a hula hoop before she was found with a knife wound in Fountain Lane at 6:20pm. Despite the efforts of medics, she could not be saved.
A postmortem concluded she died from a single stab wound to the chest.
Her death sparked a police manhunt for the killer, with Skebas found two days later and charged with her murder.
But on Monday (April 17), Skebas was excused from attending a mention hearing at Lincoln Crown Court.
Judge Simon Hirst said the defendant was not fit to enter a plea or stand trial and a two-day trial of facts hearing will take place on 10 July this year.
He remains in custody.
A trial of the facts involves the prosecution setting out the case to the jury without the defendant needing to play a part or be present in court.
The jury then decides if the defendant committed the alleged defence, but their conclusion cannot result in a criminal conviction.
Following her death, her devastated mum Lina Savicke, 35, and her stepfather, Aurelijus Savickas, 32, paid tribute to Lilia.
They also revealed plans to build a statue of her in Boston town centre as a lasting tribute to their daughter.
Lina said: “Lilia was grown in that street, every week she spent down there playing, and it happened next to the window.
“The memorial is a way for her to still be there, and we’re now fundraising to get it.
"It’s hard to know what to say. She was just a normal child, one day she’s happy and another she isn’t, one day she wants to eat pancakes and another she doesn’t - the usual things.
"She loved to dance, travel and try new things, and annoy her sister. She wanted to go to Italy, so we will probably go anyway next year.
“There are so many things we could say, but we are not going to talk a lot about who she was and share those stories from our home; they are ours and we want to keep them for us.
"You find yourself looking for her everywhere. We had four corners and now one is gone.”
Aurelijus added: “She was cheeky; quiet in one way and then other ways she wasn't. She always tried to make fun."
Chief Superintendent Martyn Parker said previously: “This is a heartbreaking case that has affected many people in Boston, and further afield.
“Our thoughts continue to be with Lilia’s family at this exceptionally difficult time."
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