A 16-year-old boy is to stand trial, he is charged with abducting, raping and murdering six-year-old Alesha MacPhail on the Isle of Bute.
The teenager made his first appearance in court on Monday, he pleads not guilty and will face trial in February. Alesha’s mother was given special permission to be presented in court to see the proceedings.
Prosecutors claim the teenager was armed with a knife when he took Alesha from her bed in Ardbeg Road in Rothesay in July. It is then alleged he carried the schoolgirl to the site of the former Kyles Hydropathic Hotel on the island.
The charge at the High Court in Glasgow stated he took off Alesha’s clothes, shook her violently before placing his hands over her nose, mouth and around her neck.
The teenager faces a separate charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice. It is claimed that he went to another house at Ardbeg Road before disposing of her clothes he had worn and taking a shower to remove blood from his body.
Alesha MacPhail was reported missing at 6.25am on Monday 2th of July 2018, a three hours later her body was found in a woodland on the site of a former hotel by a member of public. Alesha was visiting her father and grandparents at the time as it was the summer holidays.
Alesha’s death horrified Rothesay described by detectives as a “tight-knit community” with a population of about 4,850.
