A murder victim rang his teenage sister in school to ‘say goodbye’ just hours before he was stabbed to death by Britain’s youngest knife killers.
Shawn Seesahai phoned his 15-year-old sister Shana out of the blue as she sat in a classroom and told her: “Always remember I love you”. Tragically he was savagely attacked and killed by two 12-year-old boys with a fearsome machete just hours after the call.
Shawn’s family believe he subconsciously knew he was going to die – and was saying a final goodbye to Shana. Chillingly, she later told her parents she had a “sick feeling in her stomach” around the time he was murdered.
Shawn, 19, was originally from the Caribbean island of Anguilla and had travelled to the UK for eye surgery. He was attacked in November last year after one of his killers shoulder-barged him in a Wolverhampton park.
Shawn heroically told a pal he was with to “run bro” as he was murdered by the young duo in cold blood. Shawn’s attackers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are the youngest knife killers in British history.
They are also the youngest murderers since Jon Venables and Robert Thompson killed James Bulger in Liverpool in 1993. Shawn’s killers, who are now 13, were both detained for a minimum of eight years and six months in September.
Their sentences are being reviewed by the Court of Appeal, but both could be free when they are just 20.
Shawn’s parents believe tougher sentencing is the only way to end the UK’s knife crime epidemic. For Suresh and Maneshwary Seesahai in Anguilla, there is no end to the agony of losing their eldest child.
They still struggle to comprehend how he was killed in such brutal fashion by boys still not in their teens. The couple will release balloons at his favourite beach on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of his death.
Earlier this week they invited the Daily Mirror to their home island to speak about Shawn – and their ongoing fight for justice.
They told how:
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Shawn was due to start an engineering course the day after his death
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They were unaware about the knife crime epidemic in the UK
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They were due to start a new family life in England before the tragedy
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They did not believe police when they said how old his killers were
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They want the 13-year-olds locked up for 40 years
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They believe tougher sentencing is the only way to tackle knife crime
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They will never forgive them for brutally murdering their son
Shawn was born in Anguilla, a British overseas territory, in 2004 to builder Suresh and domestic cleaner Maneshwary.
He was fascinated with engineering as a child and was helping his dad on construction sites from the age of 12. “Shawn knew all the tools, even at that early age,” said Suresh.
“If I told him, ‘Shawn, go get the hammer drill’, or ‘go get the cordless drill’, he knew exactly what they were. Some big guys that work for me don’t know the difference of those tools, but he did.”
Maneshwary added: “He was a very loving child. Anything you asked him to do, he went and did it without complaining. He loved to help me in the house, to clean and everything. He was always checking on people too.”
In his teens, Shawn injured his eye playing basketball and was eventually diagnosed with a detached retina. His family paid for surgery in New York but he was unable to return for follow-up treatment due to visa issues.
Instead, in February last year he travelled to the UK after the Anguillan government agreed to fund his treatment. Shawn moved in with his friend Derron Harrigan, the son of the Seesahais’ close neighbours in Anguilla.
He spoke to his family regularly, telling them how much he was loving being in England.
Maneshwary travelled to the UK to stay with her son in June, going home just two months before his death. She made plans to return with Shana the following February, with Suresh due to join them in August.
“We were planning to move our whole lives over there, because the education side was so much better. I was so happy Shawn was living there. He had his own place and the landlord said he was so nice. We weren’t worried about him being in the UK because he was with his friend from Anguilla.”
Suresh spoke to his son every Sunday afternoon, finishing work early so they could chat on the phone. “I always said, ‘Be careful, know who you are going out with,” he said.
“I travel around the Caribbean a lot, so I know about life. I know about bad things and good things. Friends can lead you to the right way and the wrong way too. So I told him to know his friends and stick with them. I just told him to be careful because England is a different place, but I didn’t know about crime to be honest.”
Their world came crashing down on November 13 when Shawn was attacked and killed in Wolverhampton. He had travelled to the city with Derron and the pair were sat on a bench when one of the thugs shoulder barged them.
It led to a confrontation which ended with Shawn being savagely stabbed to death with a large machete. His parents, who are devout Hindus, were celebrating Diwali with relatives at home when they learned the news.
“My sister from Antigua was visiting, with another sister who lives here in Anguilla,” recalled Shawn. “It was Diwali festival. It was the afternoon so I suggested it was a good time for us to go on the porch and open a beer.
“The phone rang at the same time and I heard my wife howling. Shawn’s friend had called her phone and said Shawn had got stabbed, and she started crying.
“I could hear her saying, ‘No, what happened, what happened? Shawn can’t have got stabbed’. I started to talk to the guy. I said, ‘What happened, tell me what happened’. I was a bit more calm at that point.
“He said, ‘Shawn got stabbed’. I asked if he was ok and he said, ‘No, Shawn got stabbed and he passed away’. I said, ‘Are you sure it’s Shawn? Can you put the camera on so that I can see if it’s Shawn’s body on the ground?’
“But he said they had already screened it off. Then about five minutes later a police officer phoned me and said, ‘I’m some sad news for you. Shawn got stabbed and he passed away.
“That’s when my heart broke. The news was rough. It wasn’t like someone saying it gentle, it was ‘Shawn got stabbed and he died’.”
Derron later told Suresh and Maneshwary how Shawn bravely told him, ‘Run bro’ as he was overpowered by his attackers.
“He was thinking of his friend,” said Suresh. “We’re very proud of him for that. He always looked out for people. He was our hero.”
The following day detectives broke the news that they had arrested two 12-year-olds for Shawn’s murder.
“I didn’t take it seriously,” said Suresh. “I couldn’t imagine two 12-year-olds killing Shawn, because he was very tall and strong. I didn’t know any details about why it happened at that point, just that they were so young. I didn’t believe it, but the detectives said they had strong evidence.”
Maneshwary added: “I couldn’t believe it either. Two 12-year-olds? Really? It can’t be true. I was shocked. And when I went in the courtroom and saw them, oh my. My heart stopped. They were so small. They looked 12.
“How can two 12-year-olds kill? When Shawn was 12 he was helping his dad in construction every weekend. And these 12-year-olds were out on the streets killing.”
Maneshwary still recalls her final conversation with her son, who she used to phone three times a day. “I rang him that day, around 9am Caribbean time. I told him I loved him and missed him so much,” she said.
“For some reason, he rang his sister in school that day too. He said, ‘You know how much I love you and miss you. Always remember I love you. And do well in school’.
“She said, ‘I love you too Shawn, I miss you a lot. But why are you saying it like that?’ It was the only time he ever rang her in school. And that was it, that was the last time any of us spoke to him.
“In the afternoon, around the time he was stabbed in the UK, Shana had a sick feeling in her stomach. She actually felt sick, it was like she knew something was wrong. The two of them were so close.”
Suresh added: “They say that normally, before you die, you know three or four days before it happens that you are going to die. It was like Shawn knew he was going to die.
“Your body releases a different kind of fuel inside. You start to communicate to people very close to you, you send a message to them but you can’t say directly what. Your consciousness knows you’re going to die.”
Maneshwary continued: “That first week we couldn’t eat and couldn’t sleep. And now it’s hitting us even harder. Many days you can’t face going to work. From the moment you wake up all you can think about is your son.
“That day when he died, we think about who he was calling for, the pain he went through, and none of us were there for him. It’s so painful.”
The couple spent their life savings repatriating Shawn’s body and travelled to the UK for the trial of his killers. “When I saw the machete in court that they used to kill my son, I felt cold,” said Maneshwary.
Her husband added: “And the way that they used it. They didn’t just stab him, they chopped him up. Pieces of him fell off. They chopped his arms, his legs. They kicked him and cuffed him. They really wanted to kill him.
“There was no reason to attack Shawn like that. It was just a brushed shoulder. We’re big men in the Caribbean, and when someone touches you like that you say, ‘It’s ok.’
“But these were young boys and they were out to kill that night. They wanted a fight. 12-year-old children shouldn’t even be out on the streets at that time of night. They are supposed to be at home.
“12-year-old boys aren’t hanging around the streets of Anguilla at night. We can’t understand it.” Maneshwary continued: “When Shawn and Shana were younger, I gave them their cornflakes and milk at 7.30pm.
“Then they studied and went to bed. No way would they be out on the streets then. They weren’t even allowed to watch TV at that time.”
The softly-spoken couple said their lives have been destroyed by what happened that night in Wolverhampton. “We used to spend a lot of time as a family,” said Suresh. “We went out together at weekends and always ate together.
“And now it’s totally different. My birthday was in September and we planned to go out for dinner, but we couldn’t. Sometimes you go out and you see a family of four and it’s just too difficult to bear.
“After we got that awful phone call our lives changed forever.” Maneshwary said: “It just kills me. I can’t eat, nothing. Since he died I can’t see myself ever enjoying myself like I did before.
“A lot of times you want to go somewhere, but something holds me back and I can’t. Before, we used to enjoy seeing friends, going out and dancing, but now we can’t do any of that. Everything has been taken away from us since Shawn passed, everything.
“Our life can’t be the same any more. We just want to live a quiet, normal life. Before everything revolved about making plans for ‘the kids’. But not any more. Now it’s just the three of us.
“Nobody can understand how we are feeling. We have a hole in our hearts that we can never get back.” After the trial in Nottingham, Maneshwary was allowed to bring home the items Shawn was wearing when he was killed.
“There was a lot of blood but I brought the things back, washed them and put them in a box for the memories. I’ve got his headscarf, his sneakers, pants, socks and man-bag.
“Most Sundays I take them out of the box, air them and hold them and just cry until I feel good.” She revealed Shawn was due to enrol at college the day after his murder to begin an engineering course.
“His eye was starting to recover thanks to the NHS, so they said he was ok to go to college,” she recalled. “He had an appointment. He was going to do three days at college and then train for three days, earning some money.
“He said, ‘Mummy, I can’t wait to start work now. Everything will be good. I’m going to shine.” The couple are now waiting to see if the Court of Appeal will increase the sentences handed down to Shawn’s killers.
“I know they were very young when they killed Shawn, but they knew exactly what they were doing,” said Suresh. “It doesn’t set an example to other young people.
“The two boys who killed James Burger got 30-year sentences. Why did the boys who killed our son get so much less? It needs to be at least 20 years in my opinion. They only got eight-and-a-half years and have already done a year.
“They will be out when they are 20.” Maneshwary believes they should be locked up for even longer.
“These boys should have got 30 or 40 years, to show other kids what will happen in they get involved in knife crime,” she said. “Tell them, ‘See those two 12-year-olds? See how long they are in prison for? That will happen to you’. They will be afraid.
“But instead they think they’ll get eight years and be out when they are still young. What message does that send the others? They will just think, ‘I can do that’.
“We don’t blame the UK, they just need to set the law properly. Sentence these kids properly. We see it on the news over here, it’s not getting any better. These kids are all so young, just teenagers.
“I have no sympathy for the boys who killed my son whatsoever. I just want them punished. They still have their lives and I can never see my son again.
“I’m a mother. I know how I feel. We were all very close and our lives have been ruined by those boys. They should have thought about what they were doing.
“I don’t have any sympathy for them because they had no sympathy for my son when they were hitting him and killing him. I will never, ever forgive them. I can’t see my child, I can’t see my only son, and that makes me feel sick every day.”
She said their daughter Shana has been badly affected by her brother’s death. “She is crying all the time because she really misses her brother,” she said.
“She doesn’t want to go to prom because her brother was due to walk her. She doesn’t want a party for her 16th birthday because her brother won’t be there.
“She said, ‘Let’s go to the beach and have a normal day, I just don’t want a party’. It’s very sad.” The family scattered Shawn’s ashes at Crocus Bay, where he used to love swimming and jumping into the water off the jetty.
“We cannot forget the memory of Shawn. This is where he loved, this is why we chose to scatter his ashes here,” Suresh said. We scattered them by the rocks because those rocks aren’t going anywhere, they will always be here.”
His wife added: “I told my husband that if I die, then you need to cremate me and throw me right in there too, directly where my son is. We believe that you lose that person and they go. And my son never liked to stay in one place, he was always moving around.
“Every Sunday I go and pick fresh flowers and put it near his picture. It makes me like I’ve done something for him and it makes me feel nice.”
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A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to support Shawn’s family, who spent their life savings repatriating his body and attending the trial of his killers
