Deividas Skempas, 22, was charged with the girl’s murder after she was found stabbed in the street last Thursday. The acting senior coroner for Lincolnshire, Paul Smith, was told that a post-mortem examination had been carried out by pathologist Stuart Hamilton and that “the provisional cause of death was given as … stab wound to the chest”. Valutyte was playing with a hula hoop with her sister when the attack happened, a few meters away from a building where their mother worked. Lincolnshire Coroner’s heard the schoolgirl was confirmed dead at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston and was formally identified by her stepfather, Aurelijus Savickas. DCI Jennifer Lovatt, of Lincolnshire Police, told a brief hearing on Thursday that the welfare of the victim’s family “continues to be a priority”. Lovat said the “catastrophic incident” meant the force had to commit a “significant amount of resources to the investigation”. The coroner suspended the questioning until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings. Skebas was charged on Sunday after police issued an appeal with CCTV images showing a man in the Wormgate and Fountain Lane area of Boston at 6.15pm. on Thursday, five minutes before Lilia was found. Skebas, of Boston, appeared in court in Lincoln on Monday and spoke only to confirm his name. He has yet to plead guilty to murder. He was remanded in custody by a magistrate and will next appear in court on September 19.
