Teenager who killed girl while riding stolen motorbike detained for 64 months

A teenager who was riding a stolen motorcycle at speeds of up to 52mph when he hit and killed a seven-year-old girl as she played in the street has been sentenced to 64 months detention.

Katniss Seleznev was thrown around 20 metres when she was hit as the boy, who cannot be named due to his age, rode a blue Suzuki motorbike on Turnstone Road, Walsall, on the evening of July 27 last year.

Katniss, dressed in a pink T-shirt and denim shorts and riding a pink three-wheeled scooter, was just metres from her home as she played outside with her twin brother and her older sister when she was hit on the 30mph residential road, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard on Wednesday.

Prosecutor Robert Price told the court the estate where the crash happened, just as the school summer holidays were starting, was “pleasant” and children often played “safely” in the street.

Katniss’s mother Lina, who listened to proceedings through a Bulgarian interpreter, cried quietly as CCTV images showing her children riding their scooters in the street were played before a clip showing her youngest daughter flying through the air after the collision.

The boy, who is now 15 but was 14 at the time, looked solemn in the dock. Dressed in a blue hooded top and black trousers, he kept his head down.

Mr Price told the court that a month before the fatal crash, the teenager had been convicted of taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, driving without insurance and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence, and had been given a referral order.

A witness, who had left her home moments before the crash, told police the motorbike, being ridden by a boy with his hood up and his face covered by a balaclava, narrowly avoided crashing into her vehicle as the bike travelled on the wrong side of the road towards her.

Seeing Katniss hit by the motorbike in her rear-view mirror seconds later, she ran over to give CPR while emergency services were called.

The youth did not stop at the scene, instead returning to a nearby road before hiding the bike, which was later found burnt, in some bushes.

Collision investigators said there were no obvious signs the rider had tried to brake before hitting Katniss.

After his arrest, the boy gave no comment answers in interview, but pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court in April.

Defending, Robert Cowley said the boy had a difficult upbringing and was developmentally immature for his age.

He said: “There was a point in time, hitting Katniss and not stopping at the scene, where his behaviour was deplorable and he didn’t help himself by following the advice he was given during interview not to comment, but he has shown remorse and the greatest sign is that early guilty plea.

“At his age, facing an offence this serious, I think that took real courage on his part and shows he is able now to demonstrate some maturity.”

Judge Michael Chambers KC, Recorder of Wolverhampton, said he could not begin to imagine the impact Katniss’s death has had on her parents and siblings as a result of the “appalling” crash, as he sentenced the teenager to serve half of his 64-month sentence in detention before being released on licence.

He said: “Katniss died as a result of you deliberately riding a motorbike on the wrong side of a residential street towards an oncoming car, and then driving so fast you collided with Katniss who was out with her brother and sister, riding quite properly, on the street by her home.

“This was, as you now appreciate, an appalling offence, aggravated by the fact you didn’t even stop to help but rode on and you sought to dispose of the motorbike, presumably to try and frustrate the police investigation.

“It was a motorbike that was stolen some weeks prior and because of your age, you shouldn’t have been driving at all.

“There is no suggestion you braked and Katniss had no chance. It is fair to say that you were upset after the collision and I accept you are remorseful, but it was the police who came to you, not the other way round.”

Addressing Katniss’s parents in the public gallery, the judge added: “It is one of the most appalling things to have to bury your own child and I cannot begin to understand the impact that has occasioned her family, not least her twin brother and her sister.”

In a statement read to the court, written by Katniss’s father Bojil, their youngest daughter was described as “full of joy” and a “dream child”.

It added that Katniss and her twin brother were born after the couple “fought for five years” through multiple miscarriages and IVF rounds.

It said: “God finally gave them to us. Then Katniss was left to die like an animal in the street.

“Time isn’t going to heal this loss. We shouldn’t have outlived our child.”