The heartbroken mother of a murdered schoolgirl has told of her anguish and how her daughter “dies all over again every morning I wake up”.
Devastated Leanne White wept in court as she spoke about the death of Ava, 12, who was stabbed to death by a 15-year-old boy in a row about a Snapchat video in Liverpool last year.
The teenager, who was aged 14 at the time of Ava‘s death, claimed it was in self-defence but a jury convicted him of murder following a two-week trial in May.
Reading a statement at the sentencing where he was given life in prison with a minimum term of 13 years today, Ava’s mother Leanne said: “The moment Ava died is now yesterday, tomorrow and forever. It is the past, the present and the future.
“It is not just one horrific moment in time that happened last whenever. It is not just the moment, the hour or second.
“Our lives became permanently divided into before and after. You may say Ava died last year, or 10 years ago, or even 15 years ago or longer. No, she didn’t.
“My beloved Ava dies all over again every morning I wake up. My Ava dies again every moment she is not with us for the rest of our lives.”
Ms White told Liverpool Crown Court she would never see her daughter grow up, get married or have children.
She said: “She will never fulfil her dream of becoming an air hostess and travelling the world.”
The teenage boy put his head in his hands as Ms White and her older daughter Mia, 18, tearfully read their statements to the court.
Mia said: “I am a shadow of my former big, loving sister to Ava.” She said she becomes anxious walking past groups of youths in the street in case they are carrying knives.
She told the court she now hopes to change other young people’s minds about using knives.
“Hopefully if I can change at least one child’s mind about using a knife I will have accomplished something special,” she said.
The court heard Ava‘s paternal grandfather Robert, 72, had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following her death.
A statement from Ava‘s father Robert Martin. read to the court said: “Ava was the reason I got out of bed, my reason for living.
“When Ava was taken away it destroyed everything I stood for and worked towards.”
