A teenage boy told Ava White to “get out of my face, lad” before stabbing her to death, a court has heard. 

Twelve-year-old Ava was attacked in Liverpool city centre in November last year when she went with a group of friends to see the Christmas lights being switched on.

A friend who was with Ava that night gave pre-recorded evidence on Friday, recalling how the 14-year-old boy on trial for murder had a “smirk on his face” afterwards.

She said the girls had gone over to a group of boys and asked them to delete videos after spotting them filming.

The court heard that Ava’s group had shared some vodka and were “messing about” when they saw the flash of phone cameras.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Ava had tried to grab a phone from one of the boys to delete the video but “he wouldn’t have any of it”.

“We didn’t know him and we didn’t want something of us on social media looking silly and acting silly,” she said.

Ava White: Schoolgirl, 12, said she could ‘batter’ 14-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing her, court hears

Ava White: Teenager ‘laughed and ran away’ after fatally stabbing 12-year-old, court told

Ava White: Boy, 14, denies murdering 12-year-old girl in Liverpool

The boys walked away but the group followed them to a side street near a Primark store, where Ava got “face to face” with the defendant and told him again to delete the video.

“The next minute we just hear ‘Get out my face, lad’, and I thought he pushed her, but he stabbed her,” the girl said.

She added the alleged killer was then “circling around us with a smirk on his face”.

Asked why she ran after the boys with Ava, she said she hadn’t wanted to leave her friend on her own.

She remembered Ava shouting something like “bunch of mings” and agreed her friend had been going to “front” the four boys on her own.

The defence asked whether Ava had wanted a “scrap”, to which the girl replied: “She wanted to, I think, but I don’t think she would have.”

A 14-year-old boy, who said he had been around the corner when Ava was attacked, also gave evidence.

“I just heard Ava scream ‘I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been stabbed’,” he said.

The defendant denies murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter. The trial continues.

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