The Daily Mail.
The 16-year-old denied suffering the injury 'while stabbing Brianna' with a hunting knife which he bought using 'holiday money' during a family skiing trip weeks earlier.
Typing out his answers as a result of what jurors have been told is 'selective mutism' for a second day as he was cross-examined, he continued to accuse the teenage girl standing on trial alongside him of killing Brianna.
The defendant – who is being referred to as Boy Y – today admitted referring to 16-year-old Brianna as 'it', but insisted he was simply 'copying' language he had heard at school.
Asked by prosecutor Deanna Heer KC whether he thought that 'because she was transgender, you were entitled to hurt her', Boy Y answered: 'No.'
He and a 16-year-old girl who is being referred to as Girl X are accused of murdering Brianna in Culcheth Linear Park near Warrington, Cheshire on February 11.
The schoolgirl was stabbed 28 times in a 'frenzied' attack and died at the scene.
The pair, who were both 15 at the time, are said to have been fascinated by torture, violence and death, while handwritten notes about serial killers were found in Girl X's bedroom following her arrest.
Both deny Brianna's murder, blaming each other, Manchester Crown Court has heard, with Girl X previously telling jurors she went to 'stretch her legs' when she heard 'screaming' and saw Boy Y 'stabbing Brianna'.
Follow every detail of the case on The Mail's acclaimed podcast The Trial
In what jurors have been told is an 'unusual' arrangement, Boy Y gave evidence by typing his answers in a different room, accompanied by an intermediary.
His words were displayed on a screen in court word by word as he wrote them before being read out verbatim by the intermediary, with Boy Y also visible over a videolink.
Boy Y's 'selective mutism' – which emerged following his arrest - means he 'gradually stopped speaking to anyone except his mother', the court has heard.
He yesterday insisted he saw Girl X stabbing Brianna, describing her as seeming 'giddy'.
For the first time he admitted his hunting knife – bought on a family skiing trip – had been used to kill Brianna.
But he insisted he had no idea why Girl X asked him to bring it that day or that she was planning on using it.
Cross-examined today, Boy Y was asked about a cut on his finger found after his arrest which he claimed was from 'chopping limes'.
'The truth is you cut your finger while stabbing Brianna,' Mrs Heer said.
'No,' he answered.
Boy Y admitted he had used the words 'it', 'femboy' and 'tranny' to describe Brianna in messages with Girl X.
Asked why he used the word 'it', Boy Y – who jurors have been told was diagnosed with autism following his arrest - answered: 'To joke with [Girl X].'
He said it was 'what I've learned at school, how they talk about people which I've picked up'.
'They're using language which I copy off them.'
Asked if Brianna would like to be described in that way, he replied: 'Probably not.'
He repeated his claim that he had brought the hunting knife used to kill Brianna into Culcheth that day but had handed over to Girl X before meeting Brianna at a bus stop.
Boy Y also agreed that he had carried out searches on poisons and chemicals as ways of killing, but denied that he was 'taking the lead' with Girl X.
Asking why he ran off with Girl X after Brianna had been stabbed, Mrs Heer said: 'Do you always do what she asks you?'
'It depends on what she asks,' he replied.
Asked if he thought that Girl X might stab him if he had seen her stab Brianna, Boy Y said the thought had 'crossed my mind' but said 'emotions put themselves before logic'.
Boy Y denied being motivated by concern that Girl X 'might tell on you for killing Brianna with her', insisting: 'It was [Girl X] who did it.'
Re-examining by his barrister, Richard Littler KC, Boy Y confirmed he bought the knife abroad while on holiday with his family.
'I paid for it with my holiday money,' he added, saying his family were with him at the time.
Boy Y claims Girl X handed the knife back after using it to stab Brianna, after which he took it home.
It was later found in his bedroom with traces of Brianna's blood on it.
He has told the jury he got blood on his hands and clothes when he went to check on Brianna, who was bleeding 'everywhere'.
No further evidence was submitted in Boy Y's defence, and trial judge Mrs Justice Yip will give the jury legal directions tomorrow.
Girl X, of Warrington, and Boy Y, of Leigh, Greater Manchester, both deny murder.
The trial continues.
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