A teenage girl who knifed a classmate in the neck while screaming 'I want to kill you, I hate you' has been jailed. The attacker, then 13, brandished a Stanley knife and repeatedly stabbed the victim at her Birmingham school. CCTV footage captured the incident. She had previously posted chilling social media messages about the other girl, including showing her name on a tombstone.
Chilling Diary Entries
The girl later admitted she had intended to murder her and scrawled LMAO (laughing my ass off) about the attack in her diary. In the diary, she also discussed consuming the victim's organs and torching her eyeballs. The victim, who was in the same year group, escaped with a gash behind her ear and scratches to her face, reports Birmingham Live.
Court Proceedings
The defendant, now 15, who cannot be identified, pleaded guilty to possessing a knife on school premises and was convicted of wounding with intent after a trial. A jury acquitted her of attempted murder. On Monday, June 8, at Birmingham Crown Court, she was handed three years and four months detention, a last resort in a youth case. The sentence would have been roughly double if she had been an adult.
Justice Christina Lambert DBE determined the girl's remarks about killing the victim were merely 'bravado'. She said: 'Taking a knife on to school premises, which should be a place of safety, and using it in the presence of other children with the intention of causing really serious injury to another schoolgirl is very serious indeed. Only a term of detention is appropriate. I take into account that such a sentence is one of last resort but I am satisfied the offence is so serious that no other sanction is appropriate.'
Background to the Attack
The court heard the accused was in a relationship with another girl. It was claimed the accused had been tormented by the victim who had told her partner to abandon the defendant because 'she could do better'. Days before the blade attack, the accused had 'expressed her hatred' towards the victim on social media and in messages to friends. She bragged about killing her on a Tuesday and planning to stab her five times in the neck. When one person asked her why she wanted to assault the victim, the accused simply replied 'cos she's alive'.
Day of the Incident
The accused prepared for the incident by bringing a Stanley-type knife to school from home and discovering where the victim would be in the building at a certain time in the morning. She then launched at her repeatedly yelling 'die b****' for more than 30 seconds as another pupil fought to keep them apart. Teachers arrived and managed to separate them. As the accused was being escorted away, she dropped the weapon in a bin.
Officers were called. At one point, the girl was asked why she had used a knife instead of having a fist fight. She replied: 'I didn't want her to survive. I wanted to kill her.' Her 'cold and emotionless' manner was noted at the time she made the comment. The defendant was apprehended at a later date, and a diary was seized from her room in which she had also expressed a desire to kill her father.
Regarding the attack on the schoolgirl, she wrote: 'Today I tried to stab (the victim) LMAO (Laugh My Ass Off). I stabbed her neck but the f****** blade wasn't sharp enough to cut through. Anyways, she's still alive, sadly, and I'm permanently excluded. I just want my phone back LOL. That's all I care about, honestly.'
Diagnosis and Sentencing
While held in youth detention, the defendant was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but Justice Lambert concluded that this had not influenced her attack. She told her: 'Although I know you have reported to many people you were bullied and you had been called names by the schoolgirl, I do not find this in any way reduces your blameworthiness for this offence.'
A youth offending worker informed the court that the defendant had made significant progress, particularly in avoiding conflict. She described her as 'forward thinking', noting that while she hadn't expressed remorse, she wanted to move on from the incident and make better decisions in the future. Alison Scott-Jones, defending, said the girl had acknowledged that she deserved to be punished. She added: 'This has been a salutary lesson for this young woman at a developmental stage in her maturity and upbringing. What has happened to her has been punitive enough.'
The girl was informed she would serve 40% of the three-year, four-month sentence (approximately 486 days) behind bars before being released on licence. The 405 days she had already spent in custody on remand would be deducted from that total, she was told.
