14 year old girl says she would "give anything" to go back before school stabbing

She denies three counts of attempted murder

She admitted she had carried a knife to school almost every day since she was in "Year three or four", saying she felt "scared and worried" and used knives to self-harm
Author: Tom PreecePublished 7th Oct 2024

A 14-year-old girl who stabbed two teachers and a pupil at a school in Wales has said she "would give anything to go back".

Teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin, and a student, were treated in hospital after being stabbed at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, on April 24.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to three counts of wounding with intent and a further count of possession of a bladed article on a school premises.

She denies three counts of attempted murder.

On the fifth day of the trial, the girl appeared in the witness box at Swansea Crown Court on Monday, wearing a white shirt and black tie.

Answering questions put to her by Caroline Rees KC, who spoke on behalf of the defence, the girl, who was 13 at the time of the incident, said she felt "terrible" about what had happened and that she would "do anything to go back".

She said: "It doesn't feel like I did it, to be honest. (I feel) terrible, guilty."

The girl said she did not intend to kill any of the people who were injured, and that she could not remember large parts of the incident.

Ask to describe what she remembered she added: "You can't, it's dark, to say the least, I remember being very hot during the incident."

She admitted she had carried a knife to school almost every day since she was in "Year three or four", saying she felt "scared and worried" and used knives to self-harm.

The court heard she had previously been caught taking a knife into school by Ms Elias at the beginning of the school year.

Explaining the incident, she said she had forgotten she had it in her possession, having used it to carve her name into a tree.

After that, she was excluded from school for a week and her father would search her bag for knives each day.

However, she said she hid the knife in her pocket.

Her father previously admitted he had not searched her bag on the day of the attack.

The girl denied saying she had wanted to kill Ms Elias before the incident, but accepted she previously said she wanted to "punch or slap her".

The trial continues.

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