After a lengthy and complex legal process, a 26-year-old man has been found guilty of the murder of nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte.
The tragic attack occurred in the town of Boston, Lincolnshire, in July 2022, as Lilia played in the street.
On 5 February 2026, a jury at Lincoln Crown Court delivered the verdict, marking the end of a three-and-a-half-year journey for Lilia's family to see justice served.
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On the evening of 28 July 2022, Lilia Valutyte was playing with a hula hoop with a friend outside her mother's embroidery shop on Fountain Lane in Boston.
At around 6:20 p.m., Deividas Skebas, then 22, approached the children and without warning or provocation, he stabbed Lilia once in the chest with a recently purchased paring knife.
Lilia's mother, Lina Savickiene, heard her daughter call out so she rushed into the street to find Lilia still clutching the hoop before the child collapsed into her arms.
Despite immediate efforts from an off-duty police officer and later, paramedics, Lilia died from her injuries within an hour, as reported by BBC.
Skebas, a Lithuanian national who had entered the UK just three weeks prior and was working as a fruit picker, had no connection to Lilia or her family.
He was arrested at his home on Thorold Street two days later, where the knife was found hidden behind a radiator.
Skebas admitted killing Lilia but denied murder, and his defence argued for a conviction of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility
Three psychiatrists agreed he has schizophrenia and was psychotic at the time of the attack, as per The Guardian.
He was initially found unfit to stand trial, and he was treated at Rampton high security hospital but after his health improved , the murder trial proceeded.
During the trial, the prosecution argued the crime was a "deliberate and planned" act.
Prosecutor Christopher Donnellan KC told the jury, "He knew his conduct was wrong. He knew he was killing a child."
The court also heard that after the killing, Skebas believed he had "the power to resurrect" Lilia under bizarre conditions.
After seven and a half hours of deliberation, the jury returned a majority guilty verdict (11 to one) on 5 February 2026. Skebas attended the verdict via video link from Rampton Hospital and showed no visible emotion.
The impact on Lilia's family has been profound and enduring. In a heartfelt victim impact statement, Lilia's mother, Lina Savickiene, described the tragedy as a grief you do not "recover from."
She wrote, "Why her? Why us? The questions remain unanswered," and noted that Lilia would have turned 13 just days before the verdict.
Her stepfather, Aurelijus Savickas, who helped raise Lilia from age three, spoke directly in court: "I loved her as my own. She was a beautiful soul with a strong character and strong personality... she will always live in our hearts, you are forever loved, forever missed."
Detective Chief Inspector Jennifer Lovett of Lincolnshire Police acknowledged the case's difficulty, stating, "It's taken us three-and-a-half years to bring Skebas to justice. It's not lost on me how difficult that must have been for Lilia's family."
Deividas Skebas is scheduled to be sentenced on 25 February 2026, and the judge excused the jury from further service for ten years, recognizing the trial's distressing nature.
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