A 15-year-old boy who stabbed another teenager through the heart in front of terrified families on the school run has been named.
Alfie Lewis was heard telling the knifeman to "chill out" in the seconds before he was murdered. Bardia Shojaeifard claimed he was acting in self-defence, but was found guilty by a jury.
The Honourable Mr Justice Cotter lifted reporting restrictions so Shojaeifard, who was just 14 at the time if the killing, can be named and pictured for the first time. Today he was jailed for life and was told he must serve a minimum of 13 years behind bars.
Addressing Shojaeifard, the judge said: "Why you chose to do what you did, no one will ever know. You will be able to have an enjoyable life, a family, career and other experiences and you took all of this away from Alfie who will forever be 15-years-old as you cut his life short.
Bardia Shojaeifard (West Yorkshire Police)
Alfie was just 15 (Ben Lack Photography Ltd)"Whatever you say or do cannot bring him back. But from this point on, you can try and honour his life by doing something with your life before and after. You are a clever young man and must do something with your life and make Alfie proud. It is the very least you owe him and his life."
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The judge added: "Knives used by young people have stolen so many lives and you and others need to understand how dangerous this obsession is. Without your interest in knives, Alfie would be here today."
Today, Alfie's mum Heather Lane told the court: “No sentence will ever be enough for what you have done. I will never, ever forgive you. Alfie was my heart and when he was stabbed in the heart it killed me too.”
Bardia Shojaeifard posing with a knive, taken from his phone (PA)
He was jailed for life today (PA)During the trial, Leeds Crown Court heard the defendant was his usual "bubbly and chatty" self in his last lesson of the day before stabbing 15-year-old Alfie through the heart on the way back from school. The court heard evidence from the defendant's friend, who was walking back from school with him on the day of Alfie's death.
The witness said there had been nothing unusual about the defendant that day, and he had not mentioned Alfie, or being worried about anything. He told jurors that as the two of them were walking, they saw Alfie on his own near a crossing close to a primary school.
The schoolboy witness said: "Normally we just cut through in front of the gate to the primary school but whilst we were walking (the defendant) just cut off me to go to Alfie's direction. I was just really confused why he just left me, so I just carried on walking." The witness said the defendant looked "more concentrated" after seeing Alfie.
He told the court that as he was walking away, he heard Alfie shout: "Chill out." The witness said: "I turned round and saw [the defendant] holding a knife and attacking Alfie." He said Alfie was walking backwards at the time, adding: "After (the defendant) stabbed Alfie, he just ran off."
Being questioned by Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, the witness agreed he "must have missed the start of whatever happened" as he had his back to Alfie and the defendant. He said he had never seen the knife before and did not know where it had been before it was in the defendant's hand.
A girl who saw the incident described seeing a boy to the jury, she said he was "standing innocently" and being approached by another boy. In a pre-recorded interview played in court, she said: "I don't know what he was doing but he was standing there, he wasn't doing anything and the other guy came up to him.
Alfie Lewis told his killer to chill out"They started pushing each other. The one in the grey outfit fell on the floor and he was screaming. He was saying 'chill out'. He fell on his back with his knees upwards." The girl said she could only see the other boy, who was wearing a school uniform, from behind but saw him flicking his knife around three times.
"You could tell it was a knife because it was really sharp," she told the court. The witness said the boy in grey "had his hands up" and appeared to be trying to push the other boy back. She added: "I was really scared at that point. I didn't see every detail. I was just thinking 'call the police or something'. I was too scared to do anything."
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A woman who was walking to collect her children from school said she saw the two boys "fighting in some way", and witnessed one "stab [Alfie] in the chest". She told the court: "I'm not sure what the altercation was. However, Alfie didn't do anything to him personally to start a fight with him. Alfie seemed like the innocent party, he hadn't raised a fist to him."
Asked by Mr Lumley if Alfie had kicked the defendant, she said: "Alfie didn't fight back. He was scared for his life and you could tell." Jurors previously heard about two other incidents involving Alfie and the defendant. Prosecutor Craig Hassall KC said one was in July 2023 when Alfie intervened in a fight involving the defendant, and the second happened on Halloween, when Alfie claimed the defendant threw a firework at him.
Mr Hassall told jurors on the day he died, Alfie had been walking down the street to meet friends at the end of the school day when the defendant, who was 14 at the time, attacked him with a 13cm long kitchen knife he had brought from his home.
Alfie was on the floor when he was stabbed (PA Media)He said witnesses recalled Alfie looking "surprised and shocked" and saying to the defendant: "What are you doing?" as the incident unfolded close to St Margaret's Primary School, in Town Street, Horsforth, just before 3pm on November 7, 2023.
The prosecutor said a post-mortem examination revealed the fatal stab injury was a 14cm deep wound to Alfie's chest which punctured his heart Mr Hassell told the jury all the witnesses were “consistent” in saying that Alfie was “not the aggressor” that day. “Several of the witnesses speak of Alfie seeming surprised and shocked at what (the defendant) was doing. Several of them recall hearing Alfie ask of (the defendant): ‘What are you doing?’ None of the witnesses heard Alfie shouting at or threatening (the defendant).
“Insofar as any of the witnesses saw Alfie doing anything towards [the defendant], they describe him trying in vain to defend himself from [the defendant’s] knife.” Speaking outside court after the teen was found guilty by the jury, Alfie Lewis’ brother, Antony, thanked the jury “for reaching what, to us, appears a sensible and obvious conclusion, that Alfie did not pose a threat to anyone around him, and his death was senseless”.
Tributes left at the scene in Horsforth (PA)During the sentencing, victim impact statements were read to the court. Alfie's brother Anthony said: "Losing Alfie has changed my life and nothing will ever be the same again. I'm heartbroken and our family is heartbroken. Alfie was such a loving and caring little man and he has been taken away from us. don't get me wrong - he had his moments, but what child doesn't? No matter what those moments were he didn't deserve this...
"I've had sleepless nights hearing mum crying herself to sleep. I'm left dealing with the most important person in mine and Alfie's lives completely broken to bits. I miss Alfie's 12 phone calls a day, the nights we stayed up playing FIFA together, his smile, his loving and caring, his annoyingness, everything. I love you so much Alfie."
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