Two 12-year-old boys Convicted of the brutal murder of 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai. This case marks one of the youngest convictions for murder in Britain since the infamous 1993 case of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who killed two-year-old James Bulger.
The Attack on Shawn Seesahai
On November 13th last year, Shawn Seesahai was walking through Stowlawn playing fields in Wolverhampton with a friend when he was mercilessly attacked by the two boys. Despite being unarmed and offering no provocation, Shawn was shoulder-barged and then struck with a machete so forcefully that a piece of his skull was dislodged. He also suffered a fatal 23cm-deep stab wound that nearly passed through his entire body.
Young Defendants and the Machete Attack
The court heard that one of the boys regularly carried a machete, which he had shared with his accomplice before the attack. Despite their young age, the boys had screenshots of knives on their phones and had researched articles about killings. The day after the attack, one of them even searched online for information on criminal records and leaving the country.
Details of the Murder Trial
During the trial at Nottingham Crown Court, jurors were told how the boys had met two girls, around the same age, before attacking Shawn. Witnesses described how the boys passed the machete between themselves, one of them saying, “Keep stepping,” before launching the fatal attack. Prosecutor Michelle Heeley KC emphasized that Shawn was utterly defenseless, had done nothing to provoke the attack, and that the boys acted with the intent to kill or cause serious harm.
Aftermath of the Wolverhampton Stabbing
Following the murder, the boys showed no remorse. They failed to seek help for Shawn, instead cleaning the machete with bleach and hiding it. Both defendants blamed each other for Shawn’s death, with one admitting to possessing the machete.
Family’s Heartbreaking Loss
Shawn’s parents, Suresh and Maneshwary Seesahai, have been devastated by the loss of their son, who had traveled to the UK from Anguilla for eye surgery and was living in Birmingham. They expressed their sorrow and confusion over how such young children could commit such a heinous act. Suresh stated, “This world is a different world, kids are dangerous now. If we don’t pay attention to them, this will keep happening.”
Community and Legal Reactions to the Wolverhampton Tragedy
Detective Inspector Damian Forrest, who led the investigation, highlighted the senselessness of the crime, noting that the weapon used was a large machete, typically a gardening tool. Jonathan Roe, senior crown prosecutor for CPS West Midlands, described the crime as a horrifying act of brutality by boys who should not have been arming themselves and roaming the streets looking for a victim.
Conclusion:
What is the correlation between this incident and drill music? We often try to neglect the influence that music has on us, but this should be reconsidered. If it’s true that starting to listen to drill music when you are 20, 19, or 18 is not going to influence you deeply as your values and system of beliefs are already set, it’s not true for 12-year-olds.
Let’s assume you start listening to drill music when you are 10, your family situation is not perfect, and you only find friends with the same interests and ideas. What is going to happen? How are you going to cope with the confusion and the world when you are only 12?
The answer is: you can’t.
You are going to fall into the trap set by rappers and music industry personalities advocating for a lifestyle that you, at 12 years old, cannot understand or judge. Nothing at that stage of your life seems real, so grabbing a machete with your friend and inhumanely stabbing a random teen passing in the street is not that far-fetched for you.
Who’s at fault?
Can we blame the 12-year-olds? Yes, we can and yes, we did, but is that fair?
Should we rather blame the parents or the music industry? It all sounds like a cliché: YES, let’s blame the parents! But did you really know what you were doing when you were 12 years old?
Every 12-year-old is deeply and fundamentally influenced by their surroundings, including parenting, school, and friends. The real fault lies with those who build the filter through which kids see the world, and that is primarily the responsibility of the parents.