Briton (17) convicted

Teenager murdered sister “because she was annoying”

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Avon & Somerset Police, stock.adobe.com)

He didn't want to see her face again! In a gruesome act that has shocked Britain, 17-year-old Mali Bennett-Smith murdered his older sister Luka (19) in Bristol, UK - because she was allegedly "annoying" him.

The siblings, who originally grew up on a remote farm in New Zealand, had moved to the UK after their parents divorced. Mali, who dreamed of a career in the army but dropped out of training, struggled not only with the family separation but also with a diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

However, it was not an argument that led to the bloody deed on October 20, 2024. Rather, it was a supposedly playful situation that escalated. Luka allowed her brother to practise a headlock on her, as they had done many times before. But this time Mali wouldn't let go. As Luka struggled in vain for air, the teenager also grabbed a knife and stabbed her repeatedly.

Mali only called the emergency services 20 minutes after the cruel act. His words: "I stabbed my sister."

"I hated her my whole life"
In court, the teenager claimed that years of tension and arguments with his sister had driven him to commit the crime. "I just had enough of the way she treated me. I hated her my whole life. I never wanted to see her again."

A court has now sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum term of ten years and five months. When handing down the sentence, the judge spoke of a "shocking and brutal act" and emphasized how much the family had been destroyed by this tragedy.

The trial had revealed a dark picture of his childhood. Mali, who suffered from severe learning difficulties and social isolation, often found refuge in the world of video games. His mother had chosen an alternative approach to education that limited screens, but Mali increasingly escaped reality through excessive gaming - an escape that apparently clouded his perception of reality.

The crime seems even more tragic when looking back at a video that the father had made just a few weeks before the crime and shared on Facebook. It showed Mali and Luka laughing in a café in Amsterdam. He also wrote that his children were "living the dream". But the perfect world was an illusion - just 49 days later, Luka was dead.