A 15-year-old boy has admitted murdering one of two teenagers who were attacked in a case of mistaken identity, a jury has been told.
The defendant, who cannot be named because of his age, accepts that he killed Mason Rist, also 15, by inflicting at least one of two fatal injuries during the attack in the Knowle West area of Bristol on January 27.
Another boy, who is now 17 years old and also cannot be named, has admitted the manslaughter of Mason’s friend Max Dixon, 16.
They are among five people who are on trial at Bristol Crown Court charged with murdering Mason and Max – the other defendants are Antony Snook, 45, Riley Tolliver, 18, and a 16-year-old boy.
The court has heard Mason and Max were set upon by a group that had driven past them in an Audi Q2 car, after they were wrongly identified as being responsible for bricks being thrown at a house in the Hartcliffe area of Bristol.
Snook was driving the car, while Tolliver and the teenage boys aged 15, 16 and 17 – who cannot be named – accept being the passengers, the jury of nine men and three women have been told.
A CCTV camera on Mason’s house captured how the attack lasted just 33 seconds – including the vehicle stopping, four teenagers jumping out, splitting up, attacking the two friends, returning to the car and it driving off.
The two guilty pleas in the case can now be reported as they have been opened to the jury at Bristol Crown Court.
Ray Tully KC, prosecuting, told the court: “In the lead up to this trial, the 15-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to the murder of Mason.
“By that plea, we understand that he accepts that he inflicted a fatal injury to Mason. He has kept his not guilty plea to the murder of Max Dixon.
“We maintain that he is guilty of both murders due to the joint nature of what was going on.
“The 17-year-old boy has pleaded not guilty to both murder counts. He has, however, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in respect of count two, relating to Max Dixon.
“In doing so, we understand that he accepts that he is responsible for unlawfully killing Max. He accepts that he stabbed Max using the weapon he had with him.
“He accepts that when he stabbed Max, he caused the fatal injury to him. He denies that when he struck that blow, he intended to kill Max.
“He also denies that he intended to cause Max really serious harm when he struck him. He denies having any responsibility for the death of Mason.
“The prosecution suggest that the 17-year-old boy is responsible for the murder of both boys.”
Mr Tully told how a property in the Hartcliffe area of Bristol was targeted at about 10pm on January 27 – with three people seen outside with machetes, bricks thrown through a window and a woman left injured.
An hour later, Snook, Tolliver and the three teenage boys left the area in Snook’s car. Mr Tully said they were armed with “fearsome weapons”.
Referring to Snook, he told the jury: “He was transporting a car full of young people armed to the teeth with weapons and hell-bent on revenge for what had happened earlier that evening.”
The court previously heard there has been a “rivalry” between the Knowle West and Hartcliffe areas of south Bristol for years, with incidents involving people from “both postcodes”.
Mr Tully said the defendants drove past Mason and Max, who had just left Mason’s home, and believed they had spotted those responsible for the attack on the property in Hartcliffe.
He told the jury: “They were entirely wrong about that. Max and Mason had absolutely nothing to do with any earlier incident and no connection whatsoever with those events.”
After the killings, the defendants left the scene in the Audi and later split up – with some items linked to the incident hidden or burned, Mr Tully said.
Police officers who had been attending an incident nearby were diverted to Ilminster Avenue in Knowle West after the attacks on Mason and Max.
Pc Luke Douglas found Mason lying in the road and described the scene as “chaos”, Mr Tully said. His colleague, Pc Ben Tucker attended and found Max injured on the ground.
Mason was pronounced dead at Bristol Children’s Hospital at 12.49am, while Max was pronounced dead at Southmead Hospital at 1.02am.
Home Office pathologist Dr Russell Delaney concluded that both boys died from stab wounds.
Snook was arrested at his home address about an hour after the incident, which took place shortly after 11pm on January 27, and the other defendants were arrested in the following days.
Snook, Tolliver, the 16-year-old boy and the 17-year-old boy are charged with murdering Mason together with the 15-year-old boy on January 27 this year.
Snook, Tolliver and the three teenage boys are charged with murdering Max on the same date.
The trial continues.
