The trial of a teen who allegedly stabbed two teachers and a fellow pupil at a school in South Wales has collapsed with the jury discharged.
The 14-year-old – who remains anonymous due to legal reasons – admits wounding with intent, but denies attempted murder after she stabbed three individuals at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman – also known as Amman Valley School – in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, on April 24, reports the Mirror.
During the trial at Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge Paul Thomas KC discharged the jury.
He said: “There has been a great irregularity in the jury which we all agree has irretrievably compromised our ability to consider this matter. With the greatest of possible reluctance, I will have to discharge this jury.”
The judge claimed the move was undesirable and the girl will have to stand trial again next year.
The new trial has been set for January 27.
The teen faces seven charges, including three of attempted murder, three of wounding with intent and one of possession of a bladed article on a school premises.
Pupils who attend the school were forced into a lockdown on April 24 following the incident which took place at the end of the morning break.
Teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin alongside another pupil who can’t be named were hurt but soon released from hospital.
Swansea Crown Court heard the teenager, who was 13 at the time of the alleged stabbings, attacked Ms Elias and Ms Hopkin using her father’s multitool.
She then went on to stab another girl before she was restrained by staff.
All three victims survived the gruesome attack, but Ms Hopkin, who was stabbed in the neck, had to be flown to Cardiff by air ambulance.
The girl has insisted she did not mean to kill anyone during the incident.
Judge Thomas KC previously reassured jurors they were under no time pressure to reach a verdict on the case. However, on Wednesday, Judge Thomas KC made the decision to discharge the jury.
The court had heard during the trial that the girl told police officers after she was arrested: “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.” But she also asked “are they dead” and added: “How am I going to face my family after what I’ve done?”
The court was told that the girl described the attack on the teenager to the officers, saying: “I stabbed her, oopsies.” The girl is alleged to have confronted assistant head Ms Elias in the school yard, telling her “I’m going to kill you, I’m going to f****** kill you”, before launching her attack.
Fellow teacher Ms Hopkin immediately intervened, sustaining injuries to her back, neck, legs and arms, and had to be airlifted for treatment.
Footage played in court showed her pushing past two male teachers who attempted to calm her down before running around a corner and attacking another teenager.
As she gave evidence, the girl insisted she had no intention of killing anyone and that she’d carried knives into school since primary school.
She told the jury she kept the knives as she used them to self-harm and was terrified of being bullied.
The girl added that 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.”
She described the events as being a blur and could not remember much of the incident, but added: “I remember thinking to myself ‘What am I doing? What am I doing? Stop’.”
On the day of the attack, the girl told the jury she had been in a “grumpy mood” and accepted she told friends she wanted to “slap” Ms Elias but insisted she did not intend to try to kill her.
Earlier in the trial, the girl’s father told the court she had been subjected to bullying at school, and alleged someone had attempted to break into their house.
In September 2023, the girl had been excluded from school for around a week after she was found with a knife in her bag.
As a result, her father began checking her bag but she said she kept taking a knife hidden in her pocket.
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