Girl told schoolmates she'd stab teacher - court

· BBC News
Teachers Liz Hopkin (left) and Fiona Elias (right) were injured at the school on 24 AprilImage source, Family photo

Meleri Williams
BBC News

A teenage girl who stabbed three people at a school told her schoolmates she would stab a teacher on the morning of the attack, a jury has heard.

Fiona Elias, Liz Hopkin and a pupil were stabbed at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire on 24 April.

A 14-year-old girl, who cannot be named due to her age, has admitted stabbing the three and of being in possession of a knife in school, but denies attempted murder.

On the third day of the trial at Swansea Crown Court, a jury heard from a student who said the girl told her on the morning of the attacks she would "do something stupid which could get [her] expelled".

The student, who also cannot be named due to her age, said the girl mentioned Ms Elias’s name when they spoke in the toilets that morning.

The jury also heard a police interview with another pupil, who was in the lower school hall during break time, who said the girl told her she would stab Ms Elias that day.

The pupil said the girl "half showed" her a knife that was in her pocket, minutes before the attacks.

"She [the girl] said she was going to stab someone or going to stab Ms Elias," said the witness.

"She always says stuff we don’t believe. I didn’t think she was going to stab her."

The pupil witness explained how she saw the girl talking to Ms Elias, when she was told she did not have permission to be in the lower school hall.

"There was no emotion in her face. It was as if she’d changed," she added.

She also explained how the teenager had "arguments" with Ms Elias in the past, adding she was often "disrespectful" and not "listening to rules" in school.

In another student’s police interview, he said he was also in the lower school hall with the accused when she said she would "do something".

"She kept saying stuff like ‘you guys won’t see me for a while’ and ‘I’m going to be put away for a long time’.

“Then [a boy sitting next to her] asked ‘what are you going to do then?’

"She pulled a knife out of her pocket and she went: 'I'm going to do something which includes a knife."'

He said he "laughed it off" believing it to be a joke and wanted to distance himself from the conversation.

Accused "hated" teacher

Another school pupil’s interview was then showed to the jury, with the pupil claiming the 14-year-old told her in school a week before the stabbings that "her dad had weapons".

The pupil further claimed that she heard her saying she "hated Ms Elias", adding that she wanted "to kill her".

Earlier in the trial, the jury saw CCTV showing the accused stabbing another teacher, Liz Hopkin and a pupil.

The jury also heard a police interview from a student who saw the 14-year-old "being slapped" by the pupil she stabbed about a month before the incident at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman.

"They were both yelling," he said, "[The slap] looked quite hard."

The accused denies three counts of attempted murder and the case continues.

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