An adolescent who stabbed a 14-year-old schoolboy through the heart and left him dying has been sentenced to a minimal of 16 years behind bars.
Daniel Haig, 18, murdered Justin McLaughlin, 14, with a single blow through the heart at Glasgow’s Excessive Road Station on October 16, 2021.
Haig was 16 on the time.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment on the Excessive Courtroom in Edinburgh on Wednesday and ordered to serve a minimal of 16 years earlier than he’s eligible for parole, the Crown Workplace mentioned.
In the course of the trial on the Excessive Courtroom in Glasgow in June, the courtroom was performed CCTV of an altercation between Justin and Haig.
Justin had arrived on the practice station with a gaggle of buddies, whereas Haig and an acquaintance had been already on the station.
Haig denied murdering Justin and claimed he carried a knife for safety.
At an earlier listening to, Haig pleaded responsible to a earlier assault and to beforehand carrying a hid knife.
Prosecutors mentioned that throughout the trial, the courtroom heard Haig and Justin had been affiliated to rival gangs in Glasgow’s east finish.
In the course of the altercation on the station, the courtroom heard Haig had dropped his knife on the practice tracks and jumped off the platform to retrieve it earlier than chasing after and hanging Justin with the weapon whereas the youthful boy was in a “defenceless” place.
In a sentencing assertion posted on the Judiciary of Scotland web site, choose Lord Clark informed Haig: “Your homicide of (Justin McLaughlin) has had a devastating impact on the household.
“They’re left with the dreadful loss you might have brought about for the remainder of their lives. There isn’t a sentence out there to me which might even start to alleviate the affect on them.
“It’s deeply disturbing to see this gang exercise nonetheless occurring.
“It has been occurring for many many years. A boy with a knife attacking and killing one other boy as a result of he’s from a distinct native scheme, and there’s gang rivalry, is totally mindless.
“The sentence for homicide is mounted by legislation. I subsequently sentence you to detention for life.”
Prosecutor Moira Orr, head of murder and main crime on the Crown Workplace and Procurator Fiscal Service, mentioned: “This case is tragic proof of the destruction wreaked when younger folks carry bladed weapons.
“Daniel Haig armed himself with a knife. Simply 16 himself on the time, he was carrying it in his rucksack as he walked in Glasgow metropolis centre.
“As a result of he had that knife, Justin McLaughlin misplaced his life two days after his 14th birthday. His household, his buddies and a wider neighborhood have been left completely bereft.
“Our ideas are with them now as they wrestle with the enormity of their loss.
“In the meantime, on the age of 18, Haig now faces a future spent in jail on account of his actions.
“We should hope this sends a message to youngsters and youngsters who could also be tempted to hold knives.
“They danger inflicting calamitous and irreparable hurt to others and to themselves.”
