Schoolboy stabbed teacher in head after asking her to check his work in targeted attack, court hears
A schoolboy stabbed a female teacher in the head after asking her to check his work in a targeted attack, a court heard.
The 16-year-old defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder Vicki Williams at Milford Haven Comprehensive School in February.
The boy, who was 15 at the time of the alleged attack, is accused of deliberately stabbing Ms Williams in the head.
On Friday, Swansea Crown Court heard Ms Williams was a “lonely female teacher” and the boy was an “easy target” when he allegedly launched the attack.
Prosecutor Christopher Rees KC said in his closing speech: “He knows the truth about what he did, but I’m afraid he doesn’t have the courage or remorse to tell anyone.
“He brought the knife to school because he planned to attack the teacher.
“Why Vicki Williams? At quarter past three, she was a lone female teacher, an easy target.
“He didn’t attack a male teacher, did he? The young man, alone in his class, attacked one of the female teachers.”
The court previously heard the boy approached his desk on the afternoon of February 5 this year and asked him to check his work.
When he closed the classroom door, saying it was cold, “alarm bells” started ringing in his head.
The jury was told the student then pulled a large kitchen knife from her bag and allegedly struck the student in the head.
The court previously heard there was a “violent struggle” in which Ms Williams tried to take the knife from her before running away from the school.
The jury was shown CCTV footage of the teenager leaving the building before heading to his grandmother’s house, telling her: “There’s something in my head, grandma.”
Mr Rees said: “That’s the closest we can get to why he did it because he’ll never say, ‘Something got into my head’.”
“He was here to tell you that just because he hit her in the back of his skull and she hit him back,” he added.
Earlier in the hearing, the boy told the court Ms Williams saw him with a knife and “tried to take the knife away from him”, while “accidentally attacking him”.
Matthew Roberts KC, defending, said: “If he had truly intended to kill Vicki Williams as the prosecution say he could have easily done so.
“She’s so much stronger than Vicki, we don’t think there’s any way she can fight her.”
Mr Roberts claimed the student brought the kitchen knife to school to “show off” to other children.
He said: “There was no recorded history of conflict between (the student) and Vicki Williams.
“There is no evidence of any hostility or ill-feeling between them.
“We say (he) had no reason to want to harm Vicki Williams.”
The court previously heard Ms Williams went to hospital in Haverfordwest and was found to have a cut on her scalp, scratches on her back and small cuts on her hands.
The boy denies the allegations of attempted murder, unlawful wounding and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The trial continues.
