"Everyone was expecting it to be a fight and it wasn't"

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A warning that this story contains information which some readers may find distressing.

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Teenagers who watched a fatal stabbing take place in Ramsey last year have been describing how the situation unfolded.

Fourteen-year-old Christopher McBurnie was killed outside a property, in the northern town, on 29 May 2025.

A 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is currently standing trial accused of his murder.

Today (1 October), at Douglas Courthouse, the jury watched Visual Recorded Interviews (VRIs) conducted with teen witnesses who were at the scene that afternoon.

They were recorded at Police Headquarters just hours after Christopher, who was from Castletown, was pronounced dead at 4.04pm.

"A one-on-one"

In the first VRI, when asked if he understood why he was there, the witness told the police officer: “I saw someone get stabbed.”

He went on to describe seeing a ‘big group’ of teenagers near the defendant’s home, who he knew ‘weren’t from Ramsey’, after leaving school.

The witness recalled how he saw Christopher walk up to the front gate of the property: "As soon as the guy opened the gate, X (the defendant) opened the door,” he said.

The teenager said the defendant, who he described as looking ‘angry’, came out to meet Christopher who punched him with a ‘right hook’.

Describing the fight as ‘literally a one-on-one’, between the two boys, the witness added: "I couldn’t see a knife. It just looked like his (the defendant's) normal hand.”

“X (the defendant) basically stood back. The guy (Christopher) stopped punching. You could tell something wasn’t right.” - Witness

Describing the defendant’s reaction to the stabbing, which the witness said lasted 20 seconds ‘max’, the teenager recalled: “You could see on his face he was like 'what have I done?'”.

He said the defendant turned around, went inside and shut the front door.

"Pretty bad"

After the VRI was played the teenage witness appeared in court, via a live video link, for cross-examination

The defendant’s advocate, Siobhan Grey KC, asked whether he was worried when he saw the group of nine teenagers outside the defendant’s home on 29 May.

“I didn’t really know what was happening, so not really,” the teenager replied.

“Did you know what the group was doing in Ramsey?” she asked him.

“Not at first. But when you see a big group, you know it’s something pretty bad,” he replied.

The witness agreed that he knew the defendant through school adding that he was aware that he'd stopped attending because he was being bullied about his weight.

"That’s what I heard," the teenager confirmed.

"What do I do?"

A second VRI played to the jury showed another 14-year-old boy giving his account, to a different police officer, again on 29 May 2025.

This witness told the officer he’d received a message, via Snapchat, whilst he was at school that day telling him that a fight would be taking place.

On his way home he received a call from a friend telling him to go to the area where the defendant lived.

"I’d completely forgotten about it because I didn’t think it was going to happen," the teenager told the officer.

He described seeing Christopher, and ‘a lot of other people’, outside the defendant’s home when he arrived.

"They were both shouting at each other when I got there. I couldn’t actually, properly, hear what they were saying,” he added. 

Describing how Christopher and the defendant ‘smacked each other’ he recalled: "To me it just looked like he (the defendant) was punching him in the chest."

"Did you see a knife?" the police officer asked. 

"No. I didn't see him get the knife out," the teenager replied.  

He said the stabbing happened in 'literally a second' adding he became 'confused' at what had happened: "X (the defendant) just stormed into his house even though they were meant to be fighting,” he said. 

“He (the defendant) didn’t look at any of us. He just turned around and walked inside.” - Witness

Describing Christopher’s reaction to being stabbed the teenager said: “Chris started stressing, obviously, because he’d just been stabbed. Chris started saying: 'What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?'"

The teenager said members of the public attempted to help him and the emergency services arrived on scene shortly afterwards.

Trying to assist Christopher, whilst he was on the ground, the teenager added: "I just kept saying 'wake up, wake up'.”

"Do you know what the fight was actually over?" the police officer asked him. 

"No," the teenager replied, adding: “I don’t know any backstory to why they were supposed to be fighting in the first place.”

When asked if he thought anyone had recorded the incident, he said: “Every teenager records fights. I don’t know why we do.

"Everyone was expecting it to be a fight and it wasn’t,” he recalled.

The Trial

The juvenile defendant denies the charge of murder.

The trial is due to continue tomorrow (2 October).