'I wish I could turn back the clock': Teenage girl who stabbed two teachers and pupil at school tells court she is sorry
31 January 2025, 15:39
A 14-year-old schoolgirl accused of stabbing two teachers and a pupil at a school has apologised and said she wishes she could “turn back the clock.
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Teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin, and a pupil, were rushed to hospital after being stabbed at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, on April 24 last year.
The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has 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.
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Appearing today at Swansea Crown Court, the teenager said she was sorry and told jurors she is unable to remember a large part of the incident.
"It's kind of hard to forget but it's also really hard to remember. My feelings towards it are sorry," the teenager told the court.
Caroline Rees KC, defending, asked her if she was sorry and she replied: "Yes."
"How do you feel about causing really serious injuries to those three people?" Ms Rees continued.
The teenager replied: "It doesn't sound like me. It doesn't feel like something I would do."
She told the court she couldn’t believe she would hurt anyone.
Ms Rees asked: "If you could go back in time would you change things?"
The girl said: "Yes."
The barrister asked: "Would you do this again if you had the chance?"
"No," she replied.
Ms Rees went on: "Did you at any point want to kill any of the people involved in this case?"
She replied: "No."
On the day of the incident, the teen was feeling “really unhappy” and “quite up and down”, she told the court.
She had taken the knife to school because was being bullied, the court heard.
She also began to self-harm when in primary school, leading to concerns over her wellbeing.
The girl said her father would check her schoolbag for a knife daily, so she had taken to keeping it in her pocket.Ms Rees asked the girl: "Did you ever intend to use that knife on anyone else up to April 24? Did you want to hurt anyone else?"
The defendant, who was 13 at the time of the incident, replied: "No."
The teenager was asked whether she wanted to hurt Mrs Hopkin and she replied, "not really".
She also insisted she did not want to kill her classmate and that she could not remember striking her.
Asked about the moment she was restrained after stabbing the other pupil, she said: "I remember her saying 'You're a f****** psychopath' and I remember saying 'It's your fault' very, very quietly."
Asked by Williams Hughes KC, prosecuting, if she wanted to kill her classmate or her teachers, she said: "No".
Mr Hughes asked her about pictures and phrases in a notebook the police found in her home.
He also asked her what she meant by "I feel like I'm going to commit a 'crime' of a lifetime, so I am sorry to no-one."
"What crime are you talking about? In committing a crime of a lifetime did you want to become famous?" he asked
She replied: "No."
