A teenager told a teacher “I’m going to f****** kill you” as she attacked her at a school in Wales, a trial has heard.
The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies the attempted murder of two teachers and a pupil at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman School – also known as Amman Valley School – in Carmarthenshire, West Wales.
She has admitted wounding with intent and possession of a bladed article on school grounds, but faces trial on three counts of attempted murder.
A jury of seven men and five women was sworn in on Monday morning at Swansea Crown Court and was told by Judge Paul Thomas KC that a previous trial in the case had to be abandoned for “various reasons”.
The court heard there had been a “serious episode of violence” at the school during the mid-morning school break on 24 April last year.
Prosecuting, William Hughes KC, said teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin were “seriously injured after being repeatedly stabbed”.
On a previous occasion, after a knife was found in the defendant’s possession, she was excluded from school “for a number of days”, and the school was given permission to carry out “daily bag checks”.
But on the morning of 24 April, the court heard how the defendant had “left the family home before her father could check her bag”.
(L-R) Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin. Pics: Dyfed-Powys Police
The jury was told that, prior to the incident, the defendant was in the lower school hall, but “did not have permission” to be there, and that when Mrs Elias told her this, the girl looked at her with “sinister eyes” and “appeared to be playing with something in the right-side pocket of her cargo trousers”.
Later that morning, in an outdoor area near the lower hall, the teenager pulled out what Mrs Elias described as “a penknife with a silver tip to it”, while she was speaking to both her and Mrs Hopkin.
The prosecution said the knife used in the attack turned out to be a “multi-tool” taken without permission from her father’s fishing equipment.
Mr Hughes told the jury: “Mrs Elias asked about her [the defendant’s] trousers which were not school uniform.
“There was an exchange between them about contacting her father, which she did not want.
“Mrs Elias then said she wasn’t happy with the way [the girl] was looking at her and asked what she had in her pocket.
“She said: ‘Do you want to see?’ and pulled out an item with a silver blade.
“On pulling out the knife, she said to Mrs Elias ‘I am going to kill you, I am going to f****** kill you’, and then she started to stab her.”
She also attacked Ms Hopkin, before rushing past two male teachers and running at the other pupil.
Both Mrs Elias and Mrs Hopkin, who attempted to restrain the defendant, “received significant and serious injuries”.
Mrs Hopkin was the most seriously injured of the two with “four stab wounds”, and she was airlifted to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.
Mrs Elias and the pupil also attended hospital for treatment.
Ammanford in Carmarthenshire
Members of the jury were shown CCTV footage of the incident as the prosecution opened its case on Monday.
After her arrest, Mr Hughes said the defendant made “significant, unsolicited comments” in the back of the police vehicle on the way to the police station.
The comments were captured on body-worn camera footage.
Referring to the pupil, she said: “I stabbed her… oopsies”.
She then said: “I suppose things like this don’t happen often”, and later asked: ‘Are they dead?’
“I’m pretty sure this is going to be on the news, so more eyes will be looking at me, that’s one way to be a celebrity,” she added.
She later asked officers, “How am I going to face my family after what I’ve done?”
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After her arrest, police officers attended her home address where they found drawings with comments including “burning a person”, “they could die”, “cut their mouths and eyes” and “to death”.
Officers also found a drawing of what was described as “Mrs Frog Face Elias”.
The trial continues.
