TORONTO -- A charge of first-degree murder against an 18-year-old man in connection with the death of a Hamilton teenager has been withdrawn.
On the afternoon of Oct. 7, Devan Bracci-Selvey’s mother said she received a phone call from her son telling her to come to Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School as a group of teenagers were bothering him.
Bracci-Selvey was stabbed to death in front of his mother outside of the school just after 1 p.m.
Shari-Ann Sullivan-Selvey said her son was a victim of bullying ever since he started high school in September.
“He missed a lot of class, he would go for some classes and then call me and I’d go pick him up or sometimes he just wouldn’t go, he just refused to go in the morning,” she said on Oct. 9.
Two suspects, an 18-year-old male and a 14-year-old male, both from Hamilton, were taken into police custody and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the incident.
At the time, police alleged that the 14-year-old suspect was the one who wielded the knife.
On Friday, the charge against the 18-year-old suspect was withdrawn inside a Hamilton courtroom. He now faces different charges, including assault with a weapon.
The case is due back in court on Jan. 27.
The identity of those facing charges in connection with the fatal stabbing cannot be released due to a publication ban and the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
