The 16-year-old accused of murdering an Aberdeen schoolboy told police that he “tried to save” his victim.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is on trial for killing Bailey Gwynne, a fifth-year pupil at Cults Academy. Bailey died of a single stab wound after a brief scuffle at the end of lunch break in October last year.
On the third day of the trial at Aberdeen high court, the accused’s voice was heard for the first time, as the jury listened to a 90-minute recording of a police interview the day after the killing.
In it, the boy described the fight when Bailey was stabbed, and its immediate aftermath, when both boys had been ordered to the head teacher’s office.
As they walked along a corridor Bailey collapsed suddenly and the accused said he tried to help him. He told officers: “I quickly tried to take off his blazer and undid his buttons.” As others rushed to Bailey’s aid, the accused said: “I just stood there in shock.”
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Anna Muirhead, the head teacher, ordered the accused to her office. As he began to make his way there, he recalled: “I saw Bailey having convulsions. I was almost crying because I didn’t mean to do it.”
The accused told police he used the Amazon website to purchase knuckle dusters for £10 and a knife for £40. He could buy the weapons at the click of a button, he said, “because they don’t check your age”. He added: “It said on Amazon [the knife] was legal, because the blade was only three inches.”
The recording was indistinct in places, but the jury were given a transcript of the interview to read. The boy revealed that he had purchased the knife weeks before Bailey’s stabbing, and had taken it to school “every day”, carrying it in his blazer pocket.
“I was in possession of a knife because I have never fit in,” he said. “I was just trying to be cool, to fit in, to be tough.” He also described difficult relationships with his siblings, and told officers that he had never had a girlfriend.
On two occasions, he described the fight. He said that Bailey had made a remark about his friend being “fat” after he asked for a biscuit.
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The accused told police: “At that point I said ‘Just like your mum’ and he started to approach me as he was saying to people ‘Who said that?’.
“As he approached me, I saw him in the reflection and he looked angry. I pulled out the knife, opened it up and tried to scare him away with it. He came closer and I got pretty scared so tried to scare him away again by like moving it but he got in the way.”
Later, he described the fatal blow. He said: “I thought [the knife] had closed. I felt it bend . . . So I put it back in my pocket.”
The accused’s statement appeared to contradict the evidence of other pupils who described him being held in a headlock by Bailey. “I don’t think I was,” he told officers. “I think I felt in control when I was ducking.”
Asked again whether he had been held in a headlock he shook his head.
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Detective Constable Eleanor Bousanquet carried out the interview, with a Detective Constable Runcie, and was in the witness box while the tape was played. She told the court that the accused had been interviewed the day after the killing, to allow him to get “a good night’s sleep”.
Ian Duguid, QC, for the defence, said that Ms Bousanquet “must be joking”. The 16-year-old had his clothes taken away, was given a paper suit, was prevented from seeing or talking to his parents, and placed on suicide watch. “He isn’t going to get a good night’s sleep,” observed Mr Duguid.
Mr Duguid asked why the interviewing officers had not asked about a statement made by the accused to PC Christopher Masson, who detained him at Cults. PC Masson told the court on Wednesday that the boy had said: “Is he dead? It was a moment of anger.”
Ms Bousanquet replied: “He was asked how he felt at the time. He had told me he felt ‘in control’.”
At the end of the police interview, Mr Runcie, began to read the charges. The boy broke in, saying: “I’m being charged with murder?”
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The officer replied: “Yes you are.”
Crying, the boy said: “I did try to save him.”
The officer replied: “You did try to save him,” then continued to read the charge sheet to the end.