‘I believe you did what you did, above all, for attention – perhaps attention you have not had from others. I think, in a weird way, you actually enjoyed the reaction and publicity coming out of what you did’
A judge has told a 13-year-old girl who took a knife to school and tried to murder two teachers and a pupil that she carried out the attacks “for attention” and showed “no interest” in her victims or genuine remorse for what she had done. The girl armed herself with her father’s multi-tool knife and used it on the deputy head of Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford during the morning break on April 24 last year.
The defendant, who cannot be named because of her age, attacked deputy head teacher Fiona Elias, teacher Liz Hopkin and a female pupil during the school’s morning break on April 24 last year. The girl approached Mrs Elias in the school yard and said “I’m going to f****** kill you” before stabbing her in the arms with the knife.
When Mrs Hopkin intervened and tried to restrain the girl, the teenager turned on her and stabbed her in the neck, back, legs and arms. Other members of teaching staff spoke to the defendant and tried to calm her down but she ran off and attacked a 14-year-old girl with the bladed multi-tool before being successfully restrained and disarmed.
During the trial, the court heard that the teachers thought they were going to die during the attacks. The jury were also told that the defendant wrote disturbing entries in a notebook including ‘Why do I want to kill others as much as I want to kill myself”. Jurors were also shown CCTV footage of the terrifying moment the girl stabbed teachers and a pupil in the school yard.
The defendant admitted possession of a bladed article and three counts of inflicting grievous harm with intent but denied attempted murder. A jury found her guilty on all counts following a trial in February. The case returned to Swansea Crown Court on April 28 for sentencing where the girl was sentenced to 15 years’ detention. You can follow the sentencing hearing as it happened here
Judge Paul Thomas KC told defendant, who is now 14, that what she did in school on April 24 last year had caused “a great deal of harm and upset” for many people and had seriously affected many lives, including her own. He told her: “The simple fact is, you tried to kill three people – two teachers and another pupil”.
The judge said having presided over the trial and heard all the evidence in the case he was satisfied that the defendant had gone to school with the multi-tool planning to kill Mrs Elias, a teacher she “hated.”
He said he was satisfied the defendant formed the intention to kill her other two victims shortly before she attacked them, though he noted the defendant also “hated” the girl she stabbed.
Judge Thomas told the girl: “I think it’s very important here that what you did, you did in full view of so many other pupils at breaktime when there were lots of other people around. That is not a coincidence. In my view you wanted as many fellow pupils as possible to see what you were going to do. You picked the time and you picked the place to attack Mrs Elias.”
He continued: “I believe you did what you did, above all, for attention – perhaps attention you have not had from others. I think, in a weird way, you actually enjoyed the reaction and publicity coming out of what you did.”
The judge said that having watched the defendant in court and giving evidence from the witness box he did not think she was “genuinely sorry” for what she had done. He said the defendant had said she was sorry but in his view “I don’t think you care very much, if at all, about how the victims have suffered.”
He noted the defendant had shown “no interest or emotion” in the victim impact statements which had been read to the court. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here
The defendant was sentenced to 15 years detention. She will serve half of that in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The court heard she will be subject to licence – and liable to recall of prison – until she is almost 30. Judge Thomas said had the defendant been an adult, the sentence would have been one of 33 years in prison.
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