A schoolgirl who stabbed two teachers had previously been expelled after taking a knife into school, a court has heard.
Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin, and a student, were injured in the attack at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, also known as Amman Valley School, in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, in April last year.
The 14-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted wounding with intent but has denied attempted murder.
On the second day of a trial at Swansea Crown Court on Tuesday, the jury heard how the girl had previously been expelled from school after a knife was found in her bag in 2023.
In a police interview played to the court, Mrs Elias said: “I had to carry out a bag search for something that had happened in the girl’s toilets, and I found a knife in (her) bag.
“(She) was very cagey about not wanting anybody to look into her bag, she had a bag full of 200 felt pens, I thought ‘bit strange’, I happened to put my hand under that and I found the knife.”
Mrs Elias said the police were called and the girl’s father was asked to come in.
“(She) received an exclusion, I can’t remember the amount of days, she was allowed to come back to school and we had permission from her dad to do regular bag checks on her, we didn’t do a lot, she settled back in really.”
Mrs Elias said she thought the girl was a bit “immature” in class, there had been no major issues after the suspension, and she did not feel “targeted” by her.
Describing the moments before the attack, she said the girl had been “sinister”.
“She was looking at me with these eyes, it was so sinister, playing with whatever she had in her pocket,” she said.
“(She looked) very distant, very menacing, just looking at me like she was going to do something to me – in a way looking right through me.
“It was making me uncomfortable, but then (she) can be like that though.”
When asked what she was playing with, Mrs Elias recalled the pupil saying, “do you want to see what’s in my pocket?” before pulling out the knife.
“She said, ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to f****** kill you’, then started to stab me,” Mrs Elias said.
“When I saw the knife and she started stabbing me, I thought ‘I’m going to die’, I thought that was it.”
Ms Hopkin grabbed the girl and told the other teacher to get away, believing it was Mrs Elias she was after.
In her interview, she told the police she feared the girl would have killed her colleague if she had not intervened.
However, after Mrs Elias got away, the girl turned towards Ms Hopkin, stabbing her in the neck, back and legs.
Ms Hopkin said: “I did think ‘shit, this is the end now’.
“I thought she was going to kill me – she went for my neck and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop her.”
She added: “I’m just glad to be alive and I’m really glad Fiona is alive, and I could see that if I hadn’t intervened she could be dead now.”
After attacking Ms Hopkin, two male members of staff confronted the girl, attempting to calm her down.
She pushed past them and went on to attack another schoolgirl.
The jury was also shown footage from a police interview with the pupil who was stabbed in the incident.
“Sir’s grabbing her and she’s screaming at me, ‘I’m going to f****** kill you’,” she said.
“I turned back round to my friend because sir was grabbing her, so I didn’t think anything was going to happen.
“I was like, ‘what is she threatening me for, what have I done?’
“I turned back around and she’s just running at me with a knife.”
She said a few months before the incident the pair had a “petty little girl argument” but that it had blown over by the next day and had no idea why the girl had attacked her.
The court also heard from the two teachers who attempted to calm the girl.
Assistant headteacher Stephen Hagget told the jury he had asked her to hand over the knife, using “reassuring words”.
Darrel Campbell, who restrained the girl after the attack on the pupil, told the jury he had not initially seen the knife in her hands, believing she had been in a fight.
“She began breathing very heavily, she turned away from Steve Hagget and myself and walked towards another group of pupils,” he said.
“She didn’t say anything to anyone, just stood there for a period of time.
“She looked directly at another group of pupils and just screamed at the top of her voice ‘I’m going to f****** kill you, you bitch’.”
It was only as she “sprinted” towards the group that Mr Campbell said he noticed the knife in the girl’s hand.
Pulling her off the other pupil, he grabbed the hand holding the knife and put her into a neck hold.
He said: “She didn’t struggle but was trying to lean away from me. I was holding her so tightly she couldn’t move.”
The trial continues.
