A 15-year-old British boy has been charged with murder after he killed his 12-year-old friend because “he was a snitch.” The teenager, who can’t be named for legal reasons, took the life of Roberts Buncis, whose body was found near Boston in Lincolnshire on December 12. Authorities said he’d been stabbed more than 70 times in a “brutal and prolonged” attack, BBC News reports, and that the body showed Buncis had wounds “consistent with an attempt to remove the head.”
15-year-old boy found guilty of the murder of 12-year-old Roberts Buncis. The investigating officer described it as “an utterly senseless act with devastating consequences,” adding that there can be no stronger message on knife crime. More: https://t.co/7ybzNlpdF9 pic.twitter.com/7TrhoD8wvZ
— Lincolnshire Police (@LincsPolice) July 5, 2021
- The suspect admitted manslaughter but denied murder. A jury ultimately found him guilty at Lincoln Crown Court after a lengthy trial in which the court heard that he “intended at the very least to inflict serious violence” on Buncis because “he was a snitch.” The verdict took less than two hours to reach.
- Buncis was found dead two days before his 13th birthday. An autopsy performed by pathologist Guy Rutty discovered that Buncis had 22 injury sites on the head, neck, chest, and abdomen and that in addition to showing signs that the suspect tried to decapitate him, it looked as though he tried to “remove the hands or fingers.” The injuries inflicted on Buncis were so violent that part of the knife the suspect used was later found embedded in Buncis’ skull.
- The suspect claimed he “lost control” during a drugs handover. When taking the stand, he said he met up with Buncis to give him drugs to sell and also collect £50 he was expecting. However, Buncis did not have the money. The suspect claimed that Buncis was the one with the knife and that he tried to stab him, but the suspect took the knife and stabbed Buncis in the neck once instead. He said he had no recollection of the 70 other wounds. However, the court heard that the suspect went home and tried to hide the knife and burn the clothes and also texted a friend claiming “things went wrong” and “this wasn’t supposed to go down like this.”
- The judge plans to sentence the teenager at a future date. Mr. Justice Jeremy Baker said that given that this is “not a straightforward sentencing exercise,” the sentence would be passed at a later date. Detective Chief Inspector Richard Myszczyszyn of East Midlands Special Operations Unit called the killing an “utterly senseless act” and said that it’s a “tragedy that deeply affected the school and the local community, and one that will stay with all of us for a lifetime.”
