A history teacher in Wales rushed out of her classroom holding a kitchen knife after a 15-year-old student used it to stab her in the head, according to footage released after the boy's sentencing.
The incident occurred at Milford Haven Comprehensive School, where the student calmly walked into his classroom and then ran out, followed by teacher Vicki Williams. Williams was seen in the released video holding the knife and clutching her head, which was bleeding.
"I thought to myself, ‘I hope that isn’t a knife because I’m dead,’" Williams told police, as reported by The Sun. "I thought I was dying. I thought I had seen my daughter for the last time.”
Williams sustained a scalp injury, defensive wounds on her hands, and a 2.8-inch gash on her back. Catherine Wilcox, the school's safeguarding lead, testified in court that Williams "just looked horrific. Her skin was the color of a dead body."
The student, who was 15 at the time of the attack, was arrested the same day. He reportedly told his grandmother that "something went in my head."
He was charged with attempted murder but found not guilty. However, he was convicted of wounding with intent and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in a youth detention facility. Sentencing judge Paul Thomas told the boy, "You could have killed her. It was pure luck that she did not have far worse injuries, maybe even fatal injuries."
While the motive for the attack remains unknown, the judge stated, "What I do know for certain is that you took a knife that day to school because you wanted to really hurt her with it."
In a victim impact statement, Williams said the stabbing has left her nervous around young men and uncertain about her ability to return to teaching. "I don’t think I could be the same teacher I was before," she said. "School starts in early September and at the moment I don’t think I’ll be returning."
