Teenagers cleared of murdering 15-year-old boy in sword attack
Two teenagers who stabbed a 15-year-old boy to death in Glasgow by stabbing him in the heart were acquitted.
Amen Teklay died in March 2025 following a clash involving two boys, aged 14 and 15, in the St George’s Cross area.
The jury at the High Court in Glasgow found them both not guilty. The children are currently 16 and 17 years old but cannot be named due to their ages.
The 16-year-old said both he and Amen had swords and claimed he stabbed himself in self-defense. The older teenager said that he stayed away and did not attack Amen.
There were emotional moments in the court while Amen’s family and friends listened to the verdict.
Judge Lord Colbeck thanked the jury for their service before dismissing them.
Following Amen’s death, police launched a large-scale investigation [PA Media]
It was heard at the hearing that the incident was caused by a fight between Amen and the little boy.
It was said that the events started in 2024 when Amen and some of his friends, allegedly armed with knives, stole marijuana from the 16-year-old boy and two other boys during the drug trade.
This led to a series of confrontations between Amen and the 16-year-old, some of which involved various weapons.
Some of the events in the city were caught on security cameras and reflected in court.
An eyewitness said the two boys were “at war.”
A series of messages said to have been sent between the 16-year-old and other teenagers were shown during the hearing.
In a text message sent two days before the incident, the 16-year-old said Amen had “a leg almost as big as mine.” The court heard the handle meant the blade.
There was further controversy that the group was “not fighting small saps”.
A vigil was held in the days after Amen’s death [PA Media]
Another witness described a previous incident where a fight was arranged.
The witness said that both Amen and the 16-year-old boy took out their swords or machetes, but the fight was stopped when young children were seen in the area.
Giving evidence in his defence, the 16-year-old told the court he bought the weapon, a red-tipped sword, online in January 2025 for £40.
He was asked about social media videos taken before the fatal incident in which he was seen holding a knife.
The teenager said he was “trying to create a personality” and added: “It was ridiculous, I was 14, I didn’t know.
“Looking back now, I was so stupid. I don’t know why I did these things.”
But the court also heard the 16-year-old regularly carried a gun.
On the night of Amen’s death, he was at a football field in Maryhill with the 17-year-old and a group of friends when he received a call from one of them saying Amen had been seen in the area and was looking for some people.
Some of the group went to the house, but the prosecution argued that the 16-year-old boy wanted to call Amen.
He carried his red sword in a sheath under his trousers.
Amen was killed in Glasgow’s St George’s Cross area [PA Media]
The 17-year-old boy said that he was walking with a 16-year-old boy who was using an e-scooter on his way to the bus stop.
He picked up a discarded frying pan from an alley along the way, claiming it could be protection.
The pair were near Clarendon Street when Amen allegedly “jumped” out of the back of a parked car with a knife.
The 17-year-old described Amen’s weapon as a curved “pirate sword.”
The 16-year-old pulled out his own sword and the pair were said to be “swinging at each other”.
The 17-year-old was further behind.
Both young people claimed that when Amen saw the 17-year-old boy, he approached them and that’s when the little boy stabbed him in the chest.
The 16-year-old claimed that he thought Amen was going to attack the older boy and raised his gun.
Floral mementos were left on a bench in memory of Amin [PA Media]
The two teenagers quickly left the scene and claimed they did not know Amen had collapsed down the street.
As the older boy got on the bus, the 16-year-old boy took off his bloody running tracksuit and threw it against the wall.
He disposed of the gun near a river in Kelvingrove Park, then went home but immediately left again.
Checks of his phone showed he had searched online for terms such as “14-year prison sentence in England for stabbing murder charge” and “can you get away with self-defense in knife fight in Glasgow”.
His father called the police days after Amen’s death, fearing his son was involved.
Days later, the 17-year-old young man voluntarily went to the police station and told the police officers what happened.
A ‘non-survivable’ injury
The autopsy revealed that the fatal wound was caused by a 19 or 20 cm long knife.
The court stated that Amen would experience rapid blood loss and that his injury was “unsurvivable”.
Originally from Eritrea, Amen lived in Glasgow with his father and attended St Thomas Aquinas secondary school in Jordanhill.
Shortly before his death he was granted the right to remain in the UK.
After Amen’s death A commemoration ceremony was held in his memory at a football park near his home in Scotstoun.
During the trial, prosecutor Adrian Stalker disputed the 16-year-old’s claims of self-defense, calling it a “deadly attack”.
He asked the jury: “Do you think that when he (the 16-year-old boy) stabbed Amen, he didn’t know where he was stabbing and where he was going?”
He said the older teenager “must have realized there was a high risk of being involved in an encounter where someone could be seriously injured, and he chose to do it anyway.”
But the 16-year-old’s defense lawyer, Brian McConnachie KC, said his client tried to defuse the situation by telling Amen: “It’s Ramadan, we don’t need to do this.”
KC said the 16-year-old was “not a misunderstood angel” but argued that Amen was “hunting” his client.
Defense lawyer Iain McSporran KC, representing the 17-year-old defendant, said his client “had no motive and most importantly no knife”.
He said that the child “did not even lay a finger on Amen Teklay” and that being at the scene did not make him guilty.
