This morning, hundreds of mourners gathered in Boston, Lincolnshire, for the burial of Lilia Valutyte, who was stabbed to death earlier this year.
A parade of community members accompanied a white and pink horse-drawn carriage carrying the nine-year-old’s casket through the town.
Pictures depicted pallbearers wearing bright pink ties carrying a colourful white casket decorated with butterflies and pink flowers into St Botolph’s Church.
Lina Savike, the mother of Lilia, was seen holding back tears as she led the procession inside the church before to the ceremony.
Following the ceremony, which featured the songs Kumbaya, My Lord, and I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, only Lilia’s family attended her private burial.
Her mother Lina paid homage to her daughter last month, saying that she “loved to dance, travel, try new things, and annoy her sister.”
Thousands lined the streets of Boston as the coffin was carried over Tower Bridge, past Market Place, and up Church Street before arriving at the church known as Boston Stump by the locals.
One mourner, Magdalene Lowe, 78 said: ‘I’m very sad and I wish there was more I could do. Just come here helps.
‘We are all thinking about and her family. If you ever need help, we are there for you.’
Another mourner, Laura Dutkuti, 34, added: ‘I’m not feeling well because I have a son who is just 10-years-old.’
On July 28, Lilia was discovered with knife wounds outside her mother’s embroidery business, where she had been playing with her younger sister.
Ten minutes after playing with her five-year-old brother on a street in broad daylight with a hula hoop, as they often did while their mother was at work, Lilia was assaulted. The incident was captured on video.
Officers were observed rushing towards Lilia with first aid kits in an attempt to rescue her.
Paying tribute to her daughter last month, her mother said: ‘Lilia was grown in that street, every week she spent down there playing, and it happened next to the window.
‘The memorial is a way for her to still be there, and we’re now fundraising to get it. It’s hard to know what to say.
‘She was just a normal child, one day she’s happy and another she isn’t, one day she wants to eat pancakes and another she doesn’t – the usual things.
‘She loved to dance, travel and try new things, and annoy her sister. She wanted to go to Italy, so we will probably go anyway next year.
‘There are so many things we could say, but we are not going to talk a lot about who she was and share those stories from our home; they are ours and we want to keep them for us.
‘You find yourself looking for her everywhere. We had four corners and now one is gone.’
Lilia’s stepdad Aurelijus Savickas, 32, added: ‘She was cheeky; quiet in one way and then other ways she wasn’t. She always tried to make fun.’
Deividas Skebas, a 22-year-old Lithuanian fruit picker, has been accused with the murder of Lilia. He has yet to enter a plea and is scheduled to return to Lincoln Crown Court next month.
Reportedly, he was recently ‘beaten to pulp’ and stabbed with an improvised ‘shank’ knife during a savage assault by another prisoner while on remand at Category A prison HMP Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Skebas was reportedly released from the hospital the day after the incident.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: ‘A prisoner at HMP Wakefield was treated in hospital for injuries following an assault by another prisoner.
‘We are unable to comment further while police investigate.’
On September 19, Skebas is scheduled to appear in court for a plea and trial preparation hearing, at which time a provisional trial date will be set.
Lilia, who was born in Boston to a Lithuanian family and was recognised by her stepfather, died of a single knife wound to the chest, according to the opening statement of the inquest.
The death of Lilia has sparked an outpouring of sadness in a city noted for its significant Eastern European population.
A friend of the family described Lilia as ‘a nine-year-old angel’ and ‘one of the most beautiful creatures’, adding: ‘None will feel her mother’s pain. The girl was a ray of the sunlight, just like her parents, who were the main helpers of our community and school events. The pain is unspeakable. We are devastated at this shocking news! Rest in peace, little angel.’
His family still resides in the industrial city of Utena in northeastern Lithuania, where Skebas was born. On the weekend, forensic officials conducted a search of a home overlooking Boston’s Central Park.
Chief Superintendent Martyn Parker referred to the murder of Lilia as “heartbreaking” and said that the case “affected many people in Boston, and further afield.”