A boy accused of murder has denied intending to kill 14-year-old Christopher McBurnie as he completed giving evidence in his trial.

The trial of the boy, now 16, accused of murdering Christopher, who was fatally stabbed in Ramsey on May 29 last year, has entered its fourth week.

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admits inflicting the fatal wound but claims he acted in self-defence. He denies murder.

During further cross-examination on Monday, prosecutor David Temkin KC put it to the defendant: ‘You were not acting in self-defence. In truth, you meant to kill him.’

The defendant denied this, maintaining that he felt threatened and was afraid.

Mr Temkin asked why the defendant had not mentioned all the messages and threats to kill Christopher in his prepared statement.

The defendant said he ‘must have forgot’ but denied omitting them because he did not want police to know.

‘Were you trying to mislead the police?’ Mr Temkin asked.

The defendant replied: ‘No.’

The defendant also acknowledged that he would have been bigger, heavier and stronger than Christopher at the time.

He admitted carrying the knife when he left the house, saying he probably used it for ‘around five seconds’.

Mr Temkin said no other witnesses had heard the defendant warn Christopher about the knife.

But the defendant said: ‘I said quietly to Christopher “I’ve got a knife” but I don’t know if he heard me. I was trying to scare him off.’

The defendant admitted using his left hand to inflict the first stab wound to Christopher's chest before switching hands for the remaining stab and slash wounds.

He said: ‘He was an ongoing threat and I felt under threat from him.’

Mr Temkin asked: ‘What else could you possibly have wanted to do other than kill him?’

The defendant answered: ‘To scare him away. I did not want to cause Christopher harm at all.’

Mr Temkin then asked: ‘Was it fair to use the knife on Christopher? Was it the right thing to have done?’

The defendant replied: ‘It was self-defence, so yeah.’

Mr Temkin also questioned the defendant about his actions following the stabbing.

The boy admitted cleaning the knife and throwing it into his wardrobe. He also acknowledged placing his phone under his bed.

Asked whether these actions were intended to mislead police, the defendant replied: ‘No.’

He said he had cleaned the knife to ‘disassociate’ himself from the incident rather than to destroy evidence.

Mr Temkin also suggested the defendant had agreed to fight Christopher and carried out the stabbing to avoid being ridiculed, as he had been after failing to attend a fight in Douglas the previous year.

‘Did you decide to show Christopher you had grown up in the last year and were braver than before?’ Mr Temkin asked.

The boy replied: ‘No.’

The defence case has now concluded. The jury will return on Wednesday, when further agreed evidence is due to be read.

Directions, closing speeches and the deemster’s summing-up will follow, with the jury expected to retire by Thursday afternoon to consider its verdict.