Roberts Buncis murder trial: Accused teenager admits manslaughter

A teenager accused of stabbing his 12-year-old friend to death in a "brutal and prolonged" attack has admitted he killed him - but denied his murder.

Roberts Buncis was found dead in woodland in the Fishtoft area of Boston on 12 December 2020.

The 15-year-old defendant told Lincoln Crown Court that he did not take a knife when he met with Roberts.

When asked by his lawyer which knife caused the fatal wounds, the teenager answered: "His [Roberts'] knife."

As the defence opened their case, the teenager pleaded guilty to manslaughter but said he was not guilty of murder.

Giving evidence, the defendant, who cannot be named due to his age, told the jury that he had previously sold drugs.

He admitted when questioned by defence lawyer Brendan Kelly QC that he sometimes carried a knife "if ever I was going out of town to get weed".

"Because I didn't want to get robbed," he said.

The boy said he often bought "large quantities" of cannabis, spending £50 to £70 a time.

He said he started smoking the drug when he was aged 13 and used it every day. The 15-year-old said he also drank alcohol "every other day".

The court has previously heard that a police search of the defendant's bedroom found a number of knives.

When asked by Mr Kelly about them, the teenager said he used the blades to cut up blocks of cannabis.

Text messages between the accused and Roberts were read out to the court in which the pair talked about stealing bicycles and robbing a shop at knifepoint to get money so they could buy cannabis to sell.

The boy told the court that neither of them had carried out the robberies because "Rob was not interested".

He added that he never saw Roberts carrying a knife.

The trial continues.

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