The trial for the four teenagers who allegedly brutally stabbed a transgender girl 14 times will start next January.
In the stabbing of an 18-year-old victim in the northwest London district of Wealdstone on February 10, Summer Betts-Ramsey, 19, is accused of attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon.
Betts-Ramsey, along with a 16-year-old girl and two 17-year-old boys, have been charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Prosecutors describe the incident as a “brutal, unprovoked transphobic hate crime.”
According to prosecutors, the transgender victim was attacked on her way to a roller-skating birthday party and was subjected to transphobic slurs as she was stabbed.
She was taken to the hospital after the attack at around 7 p.m. on a Saturday and was released the following Monday.
After the arrests, Detective Inspector Nicola Hannant said, “This was a shocking and violent attack and we continue to support the victim and her family as she recovers from her injuries.”
Betts-Ramsey has denied any involvement in the brutal assault.
The accused 16-year-old girl also faces charges of robbery of a handbag and possession of cannabis. One of the boys is accused of disclosing sexual images and threatening the alleged victim with a knife to the genitals two weeks prior to the attack.
All four are still in police custody and will appear in court again in April to enter pleas.
At a Tuesday hearing, the judge scheduled a trial date of January 6, 2025 for Betts-Ramsey and the second female charged. All four of the accused will be tried together.
The attack occurred almost exactly one year after another transgender teen, 16-year-old Brianna Ghey, was fatally stabbed by two teenagers in a park in the Northwest of England. That case captivated the nation for a year before Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 15 at the time of the killing, were given life sentences in prison for the shocking “joint enterprise murder.”
Ghey was stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife purchased by Ratcliffe on a ski trip.
Jenkinson admitted that she planned to take parts of Brianna’s body as a keepsake but failed to do so before the killers were stopped by a couple walking their dog.
She had previously told Ratcliffe she wanted to keep Brianna’s “pretty eyes.”
