Teacher 'would be dead' without help during stabbing

A teacher injured in a school stabbing believes her colleague "would be dead" if she had not intervened during the attack, a jury has heard.

Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin, along with a student, were injured at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, in April 2024.

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.

The 14-year-old girl admits the triple stabbing, but denies three counts of attempted murder.

In a police interview played to the court, Ms Elias said: "I had to carry out a bag search for something that had happened in the girls' toilets, and I found a knife in [her] bag.

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."

Ms Hopkin was stabbed her in her neck, arms, legs and back.

She said she thought the girl was a bit "immature" in class, but 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".

"I was looking at her, she was literally staring at Fiona, she wasn't blinking," she said.

"You could see it was [Ms Elias] she was after, she wanted to hurt her," Ms Hopkin said, explaining how she tried to grab the girl and told Ms Elias to leave.

"I'm glad to be alive and I'm really glad Fiona is alive," the jury heard.

"She's my colleague and friend. If I hadn't intervened, she could be dead now."

"I thought, 'I can't let go, I can't let go of her'. We were spinning round. Then she stabbed me in the leg."

She said she saw the knife falling to the floor, but the girl picked it up and came towards her and stabbed her in the neck.

"I felt she was going to kill me then. There wasn't anything I could do to stop her really," she added, before she let go.

"My clothes were all wet. Everyone was trying to see where I was hurt. It hurt so much. I could see lots of blood."

Ms Hopkin said she had first aid in school, and saw her husband and son who also worked there, before being flown to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff in an air ambulance for emergency treatment.

In her police interview Ms Elias, who was assistant headteacher, said she found a knife in the girl's bag in September 2023.

On the day of the attack, the teacher explained she asked the girl to leave the lower school hall because she did not have permission to be there.

"There was something really sinister in her eyes," she said. "She was playing with something in the right pocket."

Ms Elias said she left the building, but was then approached by the teenager in a corridor, and then again outside, as she spoke to her colleague Ms Hopkin.

"[She looked] very distant, very menacing, like she was going to do something to me. It was making me feel uncomfortable. She can be like that though," the teacher said.

Ms Elias said she asked the girl to "stop looking at [her] in that way" and then questioned what was in her pocket.

"The tone was sinister," Ms Elias said. "She asked me, 'do you want to see what's in my pocket? Do you?'."

"I had a feeling she was going to do something to me. It's a bit ironic really, if looks could kill."

The teacher said the girl took out a blade from her pocket before attacking her and shouting: "I'm going to kill you."

"When I saw the knife, and when she started stabbing me, I thought 'I'm going to die. I thought that was it'."

The court heard the teenager had "completely lost it".

"Liz and I were calling for help," Ms Elias said. "I just wanted to get the knife off her."

She said Ms Hopkin told her to leave, as they both tried to restrain the teenager.

"I was shaking. There was blood. My arms were just stinging in pain," she added.

She said she was given first aid in school for stab wounds on her arms and hand, and was then taken to Morriston Hospital.

The stabbed pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the defendant also threatened to kill her as she ran at her with a knife.

In a recorded police interview, she said she was screaming, crouching and trying to hide as the fellow pupil tried to stab her.

"I was throwing my legs, trying to kick her off me. My hair was all over my face," she added.

She said although she did not know the teenager well they did have an argument a few weeks previously, but the pair "were fine" the following day.

The jury also heard from another assistant headteacher, Stephen Hagget, who said pupils alerted him about the attack during break time.

"I very quickly noticed she [the teenager] was holding a knife," he said.

"She had a vacant look on her face, very intense, so I tried to calm her with reassuring words, and to get her to hand over the knife."

He told the jury he heard the teenager shout: "I'm going to kill her if I see her, Mrs Elias."

He was joined by a colleague, Darrel Campbell, before the teenager ran towards another pupil, the jury heard.

"She was breathing very heavily, she turned around and looked directly at another group of pupils, and screamed at the top of her voice, 'I'm going to kill you'," Mr Campbell said.

He told the jury that the teenager "sprinted" towards the pupil and stabbed her.

Mr Hagget said he stayed with the injured pupil, whilst Mr Campbell restrained the teenager.

"I was holding her so tightly, she couldn't move. She was still holding the blade," Mr Campbell added.

"I told [the girl] it's over."

The teenager was taken into a school building until the police arrived.

The trial continues.