One of the two British teens implicated in the stabbing death of popular TikToker Brianna Ghey pleaded not guilty to murder charges this week.
The defendant – who cannot be identified due to their age – entered their plea during a hearing at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court on Thursday, the BBC reported.
The parents of both suspects were present at the proceedings, the outlet said.
Ghey, 16, was found dead from multiple stab wounds in Linear Park in Warrington, Cheshire, around 3 p.m. on February 11.
The alleged perpetrators – a teen boy and girl from Leigh and Warrington, respectively – were arrested and charged with her murder less than a week later.
At the time of the initial investigation, police said there was no evidence to suggest that Ghey’s killing was related to her identity as a transgender woman.
Ghey had a large following on TikTok, where she garnered thousands of views on her lip sync video and other content.
In the days after her death, Ghey’s name was a trending hashtag on the app as users grappled with her sudden, violent demise.
“It’s a case in which I know emotions are likely to run high, that’s very understandable. There has been a lot of publicity about it already,” Mrs. Justice Amanda Yip told the court on Thursday.
“We’re going to make sure that this case proceeds in a calm manner in court in a way that is going to be entirely fair to everybody.”
An additional hearing is set for October 4, with the three-week trial scheduled to begin on November 27.