A young boy was brutally stabbed in a ‘deliberate and frenzied’ attack after travelling to meet a child of the same age for a pre-arranged fight, a jury has heard.

The boy who stabbed him, now aged 15, is standing trial for murder. He cannot be named for legal reasons.

Christopher McBurnie was just three and a half months past his 14th birthday when he was fatally stabbed outside the defendant’s home in Ramsey on May 29 last year.

He had travelled, unarmed, with two friends, by bus from his home in Castletown for a one-to-one fist fight with a boy he had never met, arranged via messages on social media.

He died at the spot he fell, just 40 minutes later.

Distressing footage filmed seconds after he was stabbed was shown to the 12-strong jury on the opening day of the trial at Douglas Courthouse.

Opening the Crown’s case, prosecutor David Temkin KC told the jury: ‘Although the attack did not last more than a few seconds, the prosecution say he intended to kill Christopher McBurnie or at the very least intended to do really serious harm.’

The court heard that Christopher had been stabbed a number of times. There were deep and severe force injuries to his chest and left upper arm, a slash wound to his chest and a smaller, possible defensive, injury to his thumb.

Mr Temkin KC said even if Christopher had thrown one or two punches first it was ‘not reasonable or proportionate’ for the defendant to use a knife to stab him ‘again and again’.

‘The prosecution say this was a determined and intentional attack. He intended to kill Christopher. Members of the jury this is murder,’ he said.

The jury heard that the two boys had never met but had communicated over social media, the Snapchat messages between the two characterised by insults, goading and threats which had become more and more menacing.

They arranged to meet for what Christopher expected to have been a one-on-one fist fight in Ramsey, with the defendant sending an image of the cul-de-sac where he lived with his house circled. He even supplied the post code.

One message showed Christopher had considered bringing a weapon but decided he would not do so.

At 1.17pm on May 29, he sent a photo of himself at the bus stop. In a group chat message he told the other boy: ‘You could not kill a fly, bro.’ The defendant said: ‘If you come to Ramsey you are dead, mate.’

Christopher travelled with two friends on the bus and they met others at the bus station in Ramsey from where they walked to the defendant’s home, standing some distance away from the front garden gate.

‘The defendant had been watching and waiting for them,’ Mr Temkin KC told the jury.

Christopher and another boy approached the front gate and doorbell camera footage showed the defendant making a ‘purposeful’ exit from his front door, the prosecutor said. ‘At that point, the defendant purposefully and intentionally attacked Christopher,’ he said.

As his victim lay dying outside, the defendant had tried to protect himself by cleaning and hiding the knife, Mr Temkin KC said.

Police subsequently recovered a kitchen knife with a 14.5cm blade hidden under clothing in a wardrobe in the defendant’s bedroom.

The officer who found it said it was only clean item in a bedroom where almost every object was covered in dust or dirt, Mr Temkin told the jury.

In a short handwritten statement provided during his police interview, the defendant said he had never intended to kill or badly hurt Christopher.

He said he had looked out the window to see 30 people outside and thought he was going to get jumped. He said he felt frightened and got a knife to protect himself.

But prosecutor Mr Temkin KC said: ‘This was not self-defence. This was deliberate and frenzied violence with the intention to kill or at the very least to do really serious harm. That’s why the prosecution say the defendant is guilty of murder.’

Addressing the jury at the start of the trial, Deemster Graeme Cook said: ‘It’s important for you to put your emotions aside.’

Jurors were told the trial would take place with a greater deal of informality than they might have expected with nobody in court wearing wigs and gowns.

The defendant was accompanied in dock with an appropriate adult and an intermediary to help him follow what’s being said. He had been diagnosed with ADHD, autism and social anxiety, the jury was told, and had been allowed a fidget toy in court.

There will be a total of nine child witnesses whose evidence has already been recorded and will be questioned over a live link.

The trial continues.