Student Stabs Teacher in Head After Asking Her to Check His Work

A teenage student stabbed a female teacher in the head moments after asking her to check his schoolwork, prosecutors have alleged.

The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, is accused of carrying out a planned attack on Vicki Williams at Milford Haven Comprehensive School in Wales on Feb. 5.

He was 15 at the time.

The teenager has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and claims the teacher was injured accidentally during a struggle over the knife.

During closing arguments Friday at Swansea Crown Court, prosecutor Christopher Rees KC told jurors the boy brought a large kitchen knife to school because he intended to attack a teacher.

According to the prosecution, Williams was chosen because she was alone in her classroom near the end of the school day and appeared to be an easy target.

“He knows the truth about what he did, he just doesn’t have, I’m afraid, the courage or the remorse to tell anyone about it,” Rees said.

“He brought the knife into school because he planned to attack the teacher.”

Rees questioned why the boy allegedly went after Williams instead of a male staff member.

“Why Vicki Williams? Well, she was, at quarter past three, a lone female teacher, she was an easy target,” he told the court.

“He’s not attacked a male teacher, has he? He’s attacked one of the young, female teachers, alone in her classroom.”

Jurors previously heard that the teenager walked up to Williams’ desk that afternoon and asked her to check his work.

Williams said she immediately became uneasy when the student closed the classroom door and told her he was cold.

Prosecutors claim he then reached into his bag, pulled out a large kitchen knife and struck her in the back of the head.

A violent struggle followed as Williams fought to take the weapon away from him.

The student eventually ran from the school, and surveillance footage shown in court captured him leaving the building.

He then went to his grandmother’s home, where he reportedly told her, “Something went in my head, nan.”

Rees told jurors that the comment may be the only explanation anyone ever receives for what happened.

“The closest we will ever get to why he did this, because he’ll never say, is: ‘Something went in my head,’” the prosecutor said.

“It is only because he struck the back of her skull, and she fought back, that she is here to tell you.”

The teenager has denied deliberately attacking Williams.

Earlier in the trial, he testified that the teacher spotted the knife and tried to grab it from him. He claimed he “accidentally assaulted her” as they struggled over the weapon.

His attorney, Matthew Roberts KC, argued that if the boy had truly intended to kill Williams, he would have been able to overpower her.

“If he was truly minded, as the prosecution say, to kill Vicki Williams, he could easily have done so,” Roberts said.

“He is much stronger than Vicki, who would have not been able to, we suggest, fight him off at all.”

The defense claimed the teenager brought the knife to school to impress other students, not because he had planned to hurt anyone.

Roberts also emphasized that there was no known history of trouble between the boy and Williams.

“There was no recorded history of conflict between the student and Vicki Williams,” he said.

“There is no evidence of any animosity or any ill feeling between them at all.”

The defense attorney added that the teenager had “no reason whatsoever” to want to harm the teacher.

Williams was taken to a hospital in Haverfordwest after the incident. She suffered a wound to her scalp, scratches on her back and minor cuts to her hands.

The teenager denies attempted murder, unlawful wounding and wounding with intent to cause serious bodily harm.

The trial continues.