Ava White: Stabbed girl, 12, said she could 'batter' boy

A 12-year-old girl told her friend she could "batter" the boy accused of her murder, a court has heard.

Ava White was stabbed to death in Liverpool city centre while out with friends on 25 November 2021.

One of her friends, aged 14, told Liverpool Crown Court Ava was "fuming" when she realised they were being filmed by a group of four boys.

A 14-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to having an offensive weapon but denies murder.

In the pre-recorded evidence, the friend said the group had shared some vodka and were "messing about" when they saw the flash of phone cameras.

She said she tried to pull Ava back as she spoke to the boys to ask them to delete the videos, but Ava pushed her off.

"I was saying to leave it. She was pushing me off her. She was fuming," the teenager told the court. "She was like 'he's the same size as me I'll batter him'. Ava wouldn't stop trying to front them."

In a pre-recorded cross-examination, Nick Johnson QC, defending, asked the girl if Ava had threatened the defendant, and she said no.

She said: "Not like she was threatening to his face or nothing.

"I told her not to argue because it would end up bad, and she said 'I should be able to batter him because he's the same height'."

She said she did not hear Ava call the defendant and his friends a "gang of mings".

The girl told police she and a couple of friends sat down on benches on Church Street while Ava, the defendant and others went round the corner to the side of the Primark store.

She said after what felt like two seconds they heard screaming so they walked round the corner and saw Ava walking towards them.

She said: "[Ava] just looked really panicked. She was trying to undo her coat."

The teenager broke down in tears during her police interview as she described seeing her friend's injuries.

She said: "We were shouting 'someone help, call an ambulance, she's 12 and she's been stabbed in the neck'."

The defendant denies murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

The trial continues.

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