Lina Savickiene’s world was shattered when her nine-year-old daughter, Lilia Valytute, collapsed in her arms, covered in blood after a brutal random stabbing. The family endured a torturous wait of nearly four years before the killer was finally locked up.
Killer’s Dark Mind Games and Long Delay to Justice
Deividas Skebas, 26, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 25 years at Lincoln Crown Court for murdering little Lilia as she played with a hula hoop outside her mother’s embroidery shop in Boston, Lincolnshire on 28 July 2022.
The Lithuanian fruit picker claimed NASA had implanted a microchip controlling his actions. Doctors initially ruled him unfit for trial, plunging the family into a lengthy legal limbo. A 2023 fact-finding hearing blamed him, but it wasn’t a criminal trial.
Skebas was reassessed last year and finally found fit for full trial, which began in January 2024 and ended in a conviction. The drawn-out process forced Lilia’s family to wait agonisingly for justice.
Heartbreaking Family Statement and Killer’s Chilling Actions
“She was getting pale. She collapsed in my hands. I saw the wounds, started to cover them. I just got scared, started to shout for somebody to help me,” recounted Lina in a gut-wrenching victim impact statement read by her husband, Aurelijus Savickas.
Lilia’s little sister, just five, stood by as the young schoolgirl died less than an hour after a single stab to the heart. The hula hoop was still around her when her mum found her drenched in blood.
Visiting Skebas’ Lithuanian hometown, Lina struggled to find answers. “I still cannot comprehend it,” she said.
Her husband slammed the defence’s claim that both sides were victims. “Lilia did not choose to die. This can never be compared,” he said.
Calculated Killing Caught on CCTV – Judge Condemns ‘Shocking and Horrific’ Crime
Judge Akhlaq Choudhury described CCTV showing Lilia as a “carefree, happy girl” minutes before the attack. “How could anyone imagine she’d be stabbed by a stranger so suddenly?” he demanded.
Skebas bought a kitchen knife two days before the murder. CCTV revealed him lurking around Fountain Lane, waiting for a target before stabbing Lilia through the heart at 6.15pm.
Despite his schizophrenia and cannabis use, Skebas denied murder and pleaded diminished responsibility. But prosecutors exposed he used cannabis regularly and planned his actions, even trying to flee to Lithuania after the stabbing.
He shaved his beard and hid the knife, showing he knew what he was doing.
Justice Delayed but Not Denied – Killer Locked Up ‘At Least Until 2047’
Skebas was detained under the Mental Health Act in 2020 after exhibiting psychotic behaviour, but returned to the UK months before Lilia’s murder. He appeared via video link from Rampton Hospital, a high-security psychiatric unit, showing no emotion as the sentence was handed down.
Police praised Lilia’s family for their “remarkable strength” through the ordeal. Prosecutor Marc Thompson admitted the wait had been agonising, but justice was finally served.
With a 25-year minimum term, Skebas will stay behind bars until at least 2047, likely spending his sentence in psychiatric care due to ongoing mental health needs.
More news from Boston
