Four teenagers and a 45-year-old man have been convicted of murdering two boys who were attacked with machetes in a case of mistaken identity in Bristol.
Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, died from stab wounds after being chased by four armed teenagers on Jan. 27 in the Knowle West area in the south of the city.
Riley Tolliver, 18, a 16-year-old boy, a 17-year-old boy, and getaway driver Antony Snook, 45, were found guilty of the murders of Mason and Max by a jury of nine men and three women at Bristol Crown Court after a six-week trial.
A 15-year-old boy was also found guilty of the murder of Max after previously pleading guilty to the murder of Mason. He had denied being involved in killing Max.
Rival Areas
The two boys had been wrongly identified as being responsible for bricks being thrown at a house in the rival Hartcliffe district of the city earlier that evening.Around an hour after the brick attack, Snook left the property with two of the boys and picked up the other two in a nearby street before heading to Knowle West.
His Audi Q2 was driven around Knowle West for at least 12 minutes before the attack, the jury was told, with the occupants scouting the area. When they saw Mason and Max in the street they wrongly believed they had spotted the perpetrators of the attack.
Ray Tully, KC, prosecuting, told the jury: “They were entirely wrong about that. Max and Mason had absolutely nothing to do with any earlier incident and no connection whatsoever with those events.”
Tolliver, carrying a baseball bat, and the three teenagers armed with machetes jumped out of the car and chased after the two boys.
33 Second Attack
Tolliver and the 15-year-old boy attacked Mason, while the 16-year-old boy and 17-year-old boy chased Max.The 17-year-old boy also struck Mason, who was lying injured on the ground, as he headed back to the Audi after attacking Max.
A CCTV camera on Mason’s nearby house captured how the attack lasted just 33 seconds from the car pulling up to the teenagers getting back in and leaving.
Mason and Max sustained fatal stab injuries, and both died in hospital in the early hours of Jan. 28.
Snook drove the teenagers from the scene and dropped them off in Knowle West.
A fire was lit in a back garden and items linked to the attack disposed of.
The 16-year-old boy picked up a McDonald’s meal and drinks just six hours after the attack.
Giving evidence, Snook claimed he thought he was driving the teenagers in his Audi Q2 disability car to a “safe house” after the attack on the Hartcliffe property.
The landscape gardener, who lost a leg in a road accident, insisted he did not know the boys were carrying weapons and was looking in his rear view mirror at the time Max and Mason were attacked.
“I thought they had got into a fight or something. I didn’t want to be involved with it. I didn’t think it was something that cost two people their lives,” he said.
“I just thought it was something stupid between Hartcliffe and Knowle that I had been dragged into. I didn’t realise anyone had been seriously hurt.”
The four teenagers did not give evidence during the trial.
Friends Since Nursery
In a statement, Mason’s family described him as “a quiet boy who would never hurt a fly. He was just so lovely and innocent.“It is impossible to put into words how we feel. This whole process has been incredibly hard and hearing what we have heard, what happened to him, it is horrible to think about Mason’s last moments.
“These dangerous individuals took away our son, brother, nephew, uncle and grandchild and we must now navigate the rest of our lives without our missing puzzle piece.”
Max’s family said the two boys had been friends since nursery, and were different characters who “bounced off each other.”
They described Max as “a big character with a happy and joyful look on life. He was funny, kind and caring. He was a huge part of the family and was very popular among his friends. He was full of life and had such a cheeky side, but was always respectful.
“Today’s outcome doesn’t change the fact that two families go home without their boys. But we can now hopefully begin to process and remember them both and the happy memories both families have of Max and Mason.”
Speaking after the verdicts, Detective Superintendent Gary Haskins, senior investigating officer at Avon and Somerset Police, said Max and Mason had been going for a pizza when their lives were cut short.
“They are beautiful boys, going about their business, in their own community when they were senselessly attacked by the individuals for no reason.
“What we know is that they passed Max when he was walking towards Mason’s house. Then Mason walks out of his house and joins Max.
“The vehicle is passing, they think ‘that’s them, they will do.’ They were hunting around Knowle to find people.
“We know they had driven around Knowle two and a half times before they came across these two boys.”
Snook will be sentenced on Nov. 19, while Tolliver and the three unnamed boys will be sentenced on Dec. 16.
