Teenagers cleared of murdering 15-year-old boy in sword attack

Two teenagers have been cleared of murdering a 15-year-old boy who was stabbed through the heart with a sword in Glasgow.

Amen Teklay died after a confrontation involving the two boys, who were aged 14 and 15 at the time, in the St George's Cross area in March 2025.

A jury at the High Court in Glasgow found them both not guilty. The boys are now aged 16 and 17 but cannot be named because of their age.

The 16-year-old said both he and Amen had swords and claimed that he stabbed him in self-defence. The older teenager said he had been standing a distance away and did not attack Amen.

There were emotional scenes in court as Amen's family and friends heard the verdict.

The judge, Lord Colbeck, thanked the jury for their service before discharging them.

During his directions last week he told them that, when considering a self-defence defence, they must consider whether an accused or friend was in imminent danger from an attack.

The judge also said that, for self-defence, violence can only be used as a last resort and "must not be more than a reasonable amount".

After the verdict, Jamie O'Neill, a community development worker at Kingsway Community Connections, said the family were still processing the verdict.

He added: "It's not a decision that they expected or wanted."

The trial had heard that the incident followed a feud between Amen and the younger boy.

It was said to have started in 2024 after Amen and some of his friends, allegedly armed with knives, stole cannabis from the 16-year-old and two other boys during a drug deal.

That led to a series of clashes between Amen and the 16-year-old, some of which involved various weapons.

A number of the incidents in the city were caught on CCTV and shown in court.

One witness said the two boys were "at war".

A string of messages said to have been sent between the 16-year-old and other youths were shown during the trial.

In one message, sent two days before the incident, the 16-year-old said Amen had a "big shank nearly as big as mine". The court heard shank meant knife.

There was further discussion that the group "ain't fighting small shanks".

Another witness described a previous incident when a fight had been arranged.

The witness said both Amen and the 16-year-old brought 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 that he bought the weapon - a red bladed sword - online for £40 in January 2025.

He was asked about social media videos taken before the fatal incident, where he was seen holding the blade.

The teenager said he was "trying to build a persona" and added: "It was ridiculous, I was 14 - I didn't know.

"I look back now and I was very stupid. I don't know why I did that stuff."

But the court also heard that the 16-year-old regularly carried the weapon.

On the night of Amen's death, he was with the 17-year-old and a group of friends at a football centre in Maryhill when one received a phone call saying that Amen had been seen in the area and was looking for some of them.

Some of the group went home but the prosecution argued that the 16-year-old wanted to look for Amen.

He had his red sword in a sheath down his trousers.

The 17-year-old said he walked with the 16-year-old - who was on an e-scooter - as it was on his way to his bus stop.

He picked up a discarded frying pan from a street along the way, claiming it could be protection.

The pair were near Clarendon Street when they claimed that Amen "jumped out" from behind a parked car with a knife.

The 17-year-old described Amen's weapon as a curved "pirate's blade".

The 16-year-old pulled out his own sword and the pair were said to be "swinging at each other".

The 17-year-old boy was further back.

Both teenagers claimed that when Amen saw the 17-year-old he approached him and that's when the younger boy stabbed him in the chest.

The 16-year-old claimed he thought Amen was going to attack the older boy and that he had his weapon raised.

The two teenagers quickly left the scene and claimed they did not know Amen had collapsed further down the street.

The older boy got on a bus while the 16-year-old removed his blood-stained jogging bottoms and threw them over a wall.

He disposed of his weapon near a river in Kelvingrove Park then went home, but quickly left again.

Checks of his phone showed he searched the internet with terms such as "stabbing murder charge sentence UK 14 years old" and "can you get away with self-defence in Glasgow in a knife fight".

His father called police days after Amen's death fearing that his son was involved.

The 17-year-old voluntarily walked into a police station days later to tell officers what he said had happened.

A post-mortem examination revealed that the fatal wound had been inflicted by a blade which was 19 or 20cm (7.5 or 7.9in) long.

The court heard that Amen would have experienced rapid blood loss and that his injury had been "unsurvivable."

Amen, who was originally from Eritrea, lived with his father in Glasgow and attended St Thomas Aquinas secondary school in Jordanhill.

He had been granted right to remain status in the UK shortly before his death.

After Amen's death a vigil 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-defence and called it a "murderous assault".

He asked the jury: "Do you think when he [the 16-year-old] stabbed Amen he didn't know where he was stabbing and not know where he was going for?"

He said the the older teenager "must have realised there was a strong risk he would be getting involved in an encounter where someone could be seriously hurt and still chose to do it".

But the 16-year-old's defence counsel, Brian McConnachie KC, said his client had tried to defuse the situation by telling Amen: "It's Ramadan, we don't need to do this."

The KC said the 16-year-old was "not a misunderstood angel" but argued that Amen was "hunting" his client.

Defence counsel Iain McSporran KC, representing the 17-year-old, said his client had "no motive… and crucially no knife".

He said the boy "did not lay a finger on Amen Teklay" and that being at the scene did not make him guilty.

Some of Amen's relatives wept outside court as a statement was read out on their behalf.

Jamie O'Neill, of Kingsway Community Connections, supported Amen and his family prior to his death.

The statement said: "Our thoughts remain with Amen's family and no court process can take away the pain of losing a child. They remain very much in our thoughts this afternoon.

"Amen was more than the circumstances of his death. He was a young man who was known, valued and cared about by so many.

"His loss has been felt deeply not only by those closest to him but by the people across our community."

O'Neill said people had come together to support one another in the aftermath of Amen's death.

But he added: "We have also seen the fear, sadness and uncertainty which violence leaves behind.

"Its impact reaches far beyond those involved and it is felt by families, friends, neighbours and young people across our country.

"We hope today encourages more to reflect on what could be done so that fewer young people, fewer families and fewer communities have to experience this kind of loss."

O'Neill also confirmed that the family planned to launch a foundation in his name which would be designed to encourage young men to "follow positive paths and move away from violence".

The statement concluded: "While no verdict can undo the pain of what has happened, we hope that Amen's legacy will be one of compassion, opportunity and positive change for future generations."