His defence barrister, Andrew Langdon KC, told the jury the boy had “made the worst decision of his life” but did not intend to kill or cause harm to the nine-year-old.
After Aria suffered the fatal injury, the 16-year-old left the house and headed for Worle Railway Station. He said he left because he got “scared” and “panicked”.
The jury heard he had been expelled from school for disruptive behaviour and truancy hours before Aria’s death, and that his mother had taken away his phone as a punishment.
He said that without his phone, he was unable to call 999.
Aria was found face down on the floor of her home shortly after 18:00 GMT by Ollie Sheppard, who was temporarily lodging at the house.
Sheppard described the house as being “silent” and “very eerie” when he arrived. “At first I thought she was messing around” he told the court, before he realised Aria’s school shirt was covered in blood.
Emergency services stopped trying to resuscitate the nine-year-old at 18:58.
