Jury considers verdict in Amen Teklay sword murder trial

Jurors have started deliberations in the trial of two teenagers accused of murdering a 15-year-old boy in Glasgow.

The boys, who are aged 16 and 17 and cannot be named due to their age, deny killing Amen Teklay in a sword attack in March last year.

Amen died after being found seriously hurt on Clarendon Street in the city's Maryhill area. The 16-year-old accused has lodged a special defence of self-defence.

The jury at the High Court in Glasgow retired on Friday afternoon and is due to resume discussions on Monday.

Judge Lord Colbeck gave instructions to the jury, asking them to give the case "careful attention".

He told them: "You are the ones who decide whether this is a murder or not."

The murder charge alleges that the boys chased Amen and attacked him with the sword, leaving him so severely injured that he died.

The judge said that if they accepted the 16-year-old's claim that he acted in self-defence, then they must acquit.

But Lord Colbeck said that if the jury finds the 16-year-old guilty, they then must consider whether the other boy acted with him.

Earlier, Iain McSporran KC addressed jurors on behalf of the 17-year-old.

He said his client had assisted police with their investigation and spoke at length to detectives in the days after Amen's death.

McSporran said: "As far as he was concerned, he had done nothing wrong."

The lawyer said prosecutors had over-reached by charging his client, and that he "was not involved in any feud or drug dealing or gang".

It was the second day of closing speeches in the trial.

On Thursday, Brian McConnachie KC, defending the 16-year-old, told jurors that Amen "was the author of his own misfortune".

The advocate said that on the night of his death, Amen had been "seeking out" his client.

"Whatever this was, it was not murder," McConnachie said.

"It was self-defence and no crime was committed at all, or alternatively it is what we call culpable homicide by virtue of provocation."

Prosecutor Adrian Stalker had urged the jury to convict both boys of murder.

He disputed that the 16-year-old acted in self defence and said it was a "murderous assault".

He spoke of a previous feud between the 16-year-old and Amen which "escalated" up until the night of his death.

The advocate also highlighted evidence of an eyewitness who claimed that Amen was "backing away" at the time of the incident.

Stalker said: "At this point I suggest that you can conclude that (the 16-year-old) could have stopped and this would not have happened."

The jury will continue deliberations on Monday.