Post-mortem examinations found two teenage boys died from stab wounds after they were attacked in a case of mistaken identity, a jury has heard.
Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, were pronounced dead in hospital shortly after the incident which took place on Ilminster Avenue, in the Knowle West area of Bristol, on the evening of January 27 this year.
Bristol Crown Court heard the boys were set upon by a group that had driven past them in an Audi Q2 car, after being mistakenly identified as those responsible for bricks being thrown at a house in the Hartcliffe area of the city.
The 33-second attack was captured by a CCTV camera on Mason’s house, with footage showing the vehicle stopping, four people jumping out and attacking the two friends, before returning to the car and driving off.
Antony Snook, 45, Riley Tolliver, 18, and three teenage boys aged 15, 16, and 17, who cannot be named due to their age, are on trial charged with murdering Max and Mason.
Ray Tully KC, prosecuting, described how officers had been attending an incident nearby and diverted to Ilminster Avenue after being told “something had happened” there.
He said: “One of the first was a police constable called Luke Douglas. He found Mason lying in the road covered in blood. He described the scene around him as chaos.
“Pc Ben Tucker also went to Ilminster Avenue. He was pointed towards a male lying on the floor, that person was Max. Max was struggling to breathe and there was a pool of blood around his body.”
Mr Tully said medical assistance was provided to both boys at the scene and they were taken by ambulance to hospital.
Mason arrived at the resuscitation room in Bristol Children’s Hospital at 12.12am and was declared dead there at 12.49am.
Max was taken to Southmead Hospital, arriving at 12.33am, but was declared dead at 1.02am.
The court heard Home Office pathologist Dr Russell Delaney carried out post-mortem examinations on both boys.
Dr Delaney found Mason had suffered a stab wound to his back, which had a track depth of 8cm, and passed through his left lung.
Mason had also sustained a stab wound to the front of his chest/abdomen area, which measured up to 7.5cm and had a track depth of approximately 21.5cm.
Mr Tully, describing Dr Delaney’s evidence, said: “He was to say that both wounds would have resulted in instant severe blood loss and that the injuries were unsurvivable.
“Both wounds passed through bony parts of the ribs indicating at least modest force was required – though he could not rule out more severe force being used.
“He concluded that the cause of death was stab wounds to chest and abdomen.”
The court was shown body-map images – computer-generated pictures showing the injuries sustained – of both boys.
Mr Tully also described Dr Delaney’s findings in relation to Max, who suffered a stab wound to his abdomen and bruising to his right shoulder.
He said: “The stab wound would have resulted in instant severe blood loss, leading rapidly and progressively to unconsciousness and cardiac arrest.
“The nature of the injury reflect a knife with either two cutting edges or a slender non-cutting edge.
“Dr Delaney concluded the amount of force required would have been mild to moderate but more severe force cannot be excluded.”
On Wednesday, Mr Tully began opening the prosecution’s case and told the jury of nine men and three women how the defendants were armed with “fearsome weapons” when they arrived at Ilminster Avenue.
He described them as “acting as a pack” which “shared a common pact” as they carried out their “revenge attack” on Max and Mason.
Around an hour before the killings, a property in the Hartcliffe area of Bristol had been attacked – with at least three young people throwing bricks through the window of that home and injuring a woman.
The court heard there had been a “rivalry” between Knowle West and Hartcliffe – two parts of south Bristol – for years and there had previously been incidents involving people from “both postcodes”.
At about 11pm, Snook, Tolliver and the three teenage boys allegedly left the Hartcliffe area in Snook’s car “tooled up” and drove to Knowle West.
Mr Tully told the jury on Wednesday: “As they drove past Max and Mason walking down the street, they thought they had spotted the people responsible for the earlier attack – or at the very least, people connected to it.
“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.”
The court was shown two machetes which Mr Tully said had been recovered following the fatal attacks.
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.
