A 14-year-old girl accused of attempting to murder two teachers and a pupil told a court she was “upset” and “grumpy” after starting her period.
She admitted to carrying a knife to her school in Wales almost every day, and pleaded guilty to three counts of wounding with intent and a further count of possession of a bladed article on a school premises.
She denies three counts of attempted murder.
The teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin, and a student, were treated in hospital after being stabbed at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, on April 24.
On the fifth day of the trial, the girl, who cannot be named because of her age, appeared in the witness box at Swansea Crown Court on Monday, wearing a white shirt and black tie.
Asked about her mood on the day of the attack, she said: “I get very upset or grumpy when I’m on my period.”
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She admitted that she had carried a knife to school almost every day since she was in “year three or four”, saying she felt “scared and worried” and used knives to self-harm.
The court heard that she had previously been caught taking a knife into school by Ms Elias at the beginning of the school year.
Explaining the incident, the girl said she had forgotten that she had it in her possession, having used it to carve her name into a tree.
After that, she was excluded from school for a week and her father would search her bag for knives each day. However, she said she hid the knife in her pocket.
Her father previously admitted that he had not searched her bag on the day of the attack.
She was caught on CCTV stabbing school steps with the multi-tool while having a Monster energy drink with a classmate.
She said: “I believe I was quite bored at that point so I started to stab the steps. It’s not an abnormal thing for me, because when I get bored I would do this.
She continued: “I was getting really angry at that point. I thought if I am going to hit a teacher, I thought I might get expelled.
“I know I’m a very troubled individual at school. I thought if I beat up a teacher I’d be taken out of school.”
Answering questions put to her by Caroline Rees KC, who spoke on behalf of the defence, the girl, who was 13 at the time of the incident, said 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.”
The girl said she did not intend to kill any of the people who were injured and that she could not remember large parts of the incident.
Asked to describe what she remembered, she added: “You can’t, it’s dark, to say the least. I remember being very hot during the incident.”
The girl denied saying she had wanted to kill Ms Elias before the incident, but accepted she previously said she wanted to “punch or slap her”.
William Hughes KC, prosecuting, asked the girl a series of questions about how many times she stabbed Ms Elias and when she took the blade out of the multi-tool, to which she said she did not remember.
Asked if she had told the other pupil she was going to “f—–g kill you”, she said she did not but remembered saying “you’re next”.
The prosecution also queried her comments to the police in which she said “that’s one way to be a celebrity”.
Mr Hughes said: “You seemed to be quite down looking but then you seem to smile at the idea of being a celebrity. Is that something that made you happy?”
She insisted it was not, and that she was “trying to bring up the mood” in an attempt at a joke.
Paul Thomas KC, the judge, said: “You have done science in school and obviously, you watch films, television etc? What can happen if someone gets stabbed in the neck?”
She said: “They can pass away depending on which area of the neck.”
He asked if she knew that before the attack, which she confirmed she did.
The trial continues.
