The two teenagers killed in South Bristol in January died from stab wounds that were so deep they damaged their liver, a jury has been told.
A Home Office forensic pathologist told Bristol Crown Court today that the injuries sustained by 15-year-old Mason Rist outside his home in Knowle West were ‘unsurvivable’, while Max Dixon died because of the amount of blood he lost.
The trial of five people for the double murder of both Max and Mason resumed on Tuesday, beginning its third week of evidence by hearing from pathologist Dr Russell Delaney.
He conducted post mortem examinations on both teenagers in the days after their deaths, and told the jury in detail what injuries he found.
Dr Delaney told the court how Mason sustained a stab wound to his back, and a stab wound to the front of his chest/abdomen area. The second wound penetrated eight and half inches into his body, the court was told. He said: “He died despite extensive resuscitative measures. In my opinion, these were unsurvivable injuries.”
The court heard that a minimum of ‘moderate’ force was needed to inflict the stab wounds, but Dr Delaney could not rule out ‘more severe force’ being used. Dr Delaney added that Mason had no defensive-type injuries, for example to his hands.
Mason also sustained abrasions, or grazes, to his left ear, nose, chin and left knee – injuries which were ‘in keeping with a collapse to the ground’, the pathologist said.
This Tuesday was the day that would have been Max Dixon’s 17th birthday. Dr Delaney described how Max had one six inch deep stab wound to his ‘right flank’ which would have resulted in ‘severe blood loss’, on that night of January 27.
He told the court: “He would have been capable of some continued activity after injury due to the body’s ability to compensate for blood loss.
“As the bleeding continued, the compensating mechanism would have failed, leading rapidly and progressively to unconsciousness and cardiac arrest. He died despite extensive resuscitative measures,” he added.
Neither boys were found to have any alcohol or drugs in their systems, although there was some medical anaesthetic found in Max’s system that was left from the attempts by paramedics and medical staff to save him.
Antony Snook, 45, Riley Tolliver, 18 and three teenagers aged 15, 16 and 17 who cannot be named because of their age, are all charged with the murders of both boys. All have pleaded ‘not guilty’ to both murders, except the 15-year-old who has pleaded guilty to Mason’s murder, but denied the murder of Max, and the 17-year-old, who has admitted being responsible for the manslaughter of Max, but denied his murder.
Prosecuting, Ray Tully took Dr Delaney through the various weapons – machete-like swords and knives, found at a house in Hartcliffe – and the pathologist said that while it was easier to say that a particular weapon could not have caused a particular injury, it was only possible to say a particular weapon could have been used.
The case continues.