A teenager on trial for murdering a 15-year-old boy was claimed to have looked up news articles on his alleged victim, jurors heard today.
A report on data from a phone which is claimed to have belonged to the 16-year-old boy on trial was read to the court.
The 16-year old and his 17-year-old co-accused are stated to have assaulted Amen Teklay in the St George’s Cross area of Glasgow on March 5, 2025.
Prosecutors claim the boys - who cannot be identified due to their age - brandished a sword and frying pan at Amen while both masked.
It is said Amen - who lived in the city with his father, but was originally from Eritrea - was chased.
The charge states that he was struck with the sword and left so severely hurt that he passed away in the city's Clarendon Street.
A special defence of self-defence has been lodged by the 16-year-old boy on trial.
Detective Constable John Samtosh today went over a cybercrime report from mobile phones seized as part of the investigation.
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Jurors were told that a phone attributed to the 16-year-old on trial carried out a number of internet searches using the Safari web browser on March 6, 2025.
These included: “Glasgow stabbing”, “14 year old murder UK”, “Murder charge sentence UK” and “Where first offenders under 18 get sent for major crimes UK.”
Another search said: “Amen Glasgow evidence.”
It was stated that the phone also had evidence of searches on social media app TikTok which included “Amen Glasgow”.
The phone’s search history also showed a string of news websites reporting on the incident.
One headline read: “Boy 15 died after being found seriously injured on Glasgow street.”
Another article referenced Clarendon Street being “locked down.”
The search history also revealed a webpage which had the heading: “Can you legally stab someone in self-defence?”
Earlier searches from January 2025 showed the phone had looked up: “22-inch red sword.”
Further recovered information recovered from a separate phone stated to have had the 16-year-old’s DNA on it was also heard by jurors.
This included three short videos from March 2025 which were played to the court.
Two of the clips had a masked male revealing a weapon with a red blade. The other video showed the same weapon but the person was unmasked.
In one of the videos, music was played over the top of it with lyrics which were from the song ‘Way2charged’ by Sus.
The lyrics read out in court said: “If you bait on Snap, I'mma turn you ghost, ask 'round town, I do it the most, swing my metal, how you on my level?”
A screenshot of a message sent to a social media account said to belong to the 16-year-old was also shown to the jury.
The sender wrote: “U killed Amen you little weasel.
“Acting like you won’t get caught.
“There wis cameras you daft p****.”
The 16-year-old allegedly replied: “Lsn yk what.
“Come idc no more, I’ll take a few more to hell with me.
“Let’s see if you’re on it.”
In a later message the 16-year-old’s account claimed that “the guy tried to stab me.”
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Brian McConnachie KC, defending, the 16-year-old, brought up information recovered from Amen’s phone.
This included a search for the street where the 16-year-old stayed at the time.
There was also a circled image of a location near the Firhill Complex football pitches from a file from the day of his death.
Jurors had previously heard that the 16-year old on trial and others had played football there that night.
Jurors earlier heard from delivery driver Mr Miller stated today that he saw three people arguing on the street outside of his flat around 10 to 10.30pm.
He went on: "They looked like they were trying to punch each other but I didn't see any weapons due to it being dark.
"It looked like they were having a go at each other."
Mr Miller stated that he saw one of the boys run off down Clarendon Street.
Prosecutor Adrian Stalker asked what happened and the witness replied: "He collapsed further down. He was just running and collapsed to the ground.
"I assumed it was a punch to the head and he was just going unconscious."
When asked what he noticed about the person, Mr Miller replied: "I started to see blood on the pavement.
"The ground was wet due to the rain - you can see it coming out. There was quite a lot of blood and I phoned an ambulance."
Mr Miller's 999 call was played to the court in which he told the person at the other end of the line that he could "see blood and I'm three [floors] up."
Brian McConnachie KC, defending the 16-year-old, asked Mr Miller if he saw anything when the person collapsed.
He replied: "He dropped what looked like a weapon." The witness later stated that it had a blade on it.
When asked if it was a two-foot-long knife, Mr Miller replied: "It looked like a weapon."
Roberto Pistorio, 33, who earlier gave evidence claimed that he saw two "kids" with faces masked "arguing" with another "kid" outside his flat.
The chef stated that he saw one of the pair with "holding a knife which seemed like a sword."
Mr Pistorio claimed that the two kids moved forward while the other looked like "he was about to leave."
The witness stated that he later heard a "scream."
Mr Stalker asked if he saw one of the people dropping a scooter and putting the knife in a sheath, he replied: "Yes."
The trial continues before Judge Lord Colbeck.
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