Ammanford stabbing: Girl, 14, guilty of attempted murder

A 14-year-old girl who stabbed two teachers and a pupil has been found guilty of attempted murder.

Fiona Elias, Liz Hopkin and the pupil were hospitalised after the attack at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, Carmarthenshire, in April last year.

The 14-year-old girl, who cannot be named due to her age, previously denied three counts of attempted murder, but admitted the stabbings.

The jury at Swansea Crown Court listened to a week of evidence and watched CCTV of the attack before reaching their verdict.

They heard the teenager had brought a weapon to school every day, and on the day of the attack, she took her father’s multi-tool knife out of her pocket and firstly attacked Fiona Elias.

The defendant is due to be sentenced on April 28.

Student witnesses said the girl told them she would stab Ms Elias and “do something stupid” that would get her expelled.

The teenager shouted “I’m going to kill you” as she stabbed Ms Elias, the jury heard, before turning to Liz Hopkin, who she did not know.

Ms Hopkin and Ms Elias said in police interviews they thought they would die as they were stabbed.

After what was described as a “stand-off”, the jury heard the girl then moved to another part of the school and ran towards a pupil with a knife and shouted, “I’m going to kill you”.

The pupil was stabbed before the teenage girl was restrained by teacher Darrel Campbell, and she was later arrested.

The jury watched a police officer’s bodycam footage in which the girl can be heard making comments about “being a celebrity” and having “more eyes on her” after the attack.

Drawings found in her notebooks were also shown to the panel, in which she referred to her teacher as “Mrs Frogface Elias”, and the pupil she stabbed with words including “burning, drowning and death”.

The court heard the girl had been bullied and would often self-harm at school and at home, since primary school.

She accepted she was “rude and irresponsible” towards Ms Elias, and the court heard the teacher had found a knife in her bag in September 2023, which resulted in a period of suspension.

The fourteen-year-old told Swansea Crown Court she never intended to kill any of the three, or use the knife before that day.

She said, “I suppose I’m sorry”, in court.

The Welsh government said: “Any form of violence or abuse against staff in our schools is completely unacceptable.

“Schools can take immediate and permanent action to expel any pupil in possession of a weapon.”