A man accused of stabbing a schoolgirl to death on the top deck of a bus has been deemed unfit to plead until later this year.
Tragic Christina Edkins, 16, was murdered as she made her way to school at 7.30am on March 7.
She died from a single stab wound to the heart in the apparently motiveless attack just seconds after sitting down on the number 9 bus in Birmingham city centre.
A court heard Phillip Simelane, 22, had been deemed unfit to plead or stand trial by doctors.
Simelane, from Walsall, West Mids., is accused of murdering Christina as she was travelling to her school Leasowes High School in Halesowen, West Mids.
He did not appear for the 15-minute hearing at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday morning.
Prosecutor Peter Grieve-Smith told the court further psychiatric assessments will be carried out and he expected Simelane to be able to enter a plea in two to four months.
Friends and family, including Christina’s dad Jason, were in court for the short hearing – wearing splashes of purple in memory of the teenager.
Simelane was remanded back into Reaside secure mental health hospital, in Solihull, West Mids., until his next court appearance on September 6.
