A man accused of murdering a nine-year-old girl last summer has been declared unfit for trial.
Lilia Valutyte died after being stabbed in Boston in Lincolnshire but the ruling means Deividas Skebas, 23, will no longer enter a plea.
There will instead be a trial on the facts, said Judge Simon Hirst at Lincoln Crown Court.
It means prosecutors will set out the case to a jury, however the defendant does not need to play a part or be present.
The court will decide if Skebas, a Lithuanian national, committed murder but there cannot be a criminal conviction.
Lilia was found with a stab wound on Fountain Lane on the evening of 28 July 2022 and was later pronounced dead at hospital.
She was believed to have been playing with her sister on the street, yards from an office where their mother was working.
Locals said the girls had a hula hoop and that a toy pram was left at the scene.
Skebas was arrested a few days after Lilia’s death and was remanded in custody after a hearing in August.
The trial is scheduled to start in Lincoln on 10 July.
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