A trial heard the defendant, who was 13 at the time, had been bullied with homophobic abuse
Birmingham Crown Court(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
A 14-year-girl who stabbed another female pupil in the neck at a Birmingham school has been cleared of attempted murder but found guilty of wounding with intent.
She attacked the victim, who was the same age, with a pocket knife in the lobby shouting ‘die b****’, a trial at Birmingham Crown Court was told.
The victim suffered three cuts to her neck but survived after another pupil split the pair and staff intervened.
READ MORE: Mum of 13-year-old girl who stabbed pupil claims her daughter was being bullied
The trial heard the defendant had been ‘bullied’ and had received homophobic insults from the victim and her friends, due to being in a relationship with another girl.
She set up a TikTok ‘hate’ page against the victim the day before she stabbed her.
The defendant, who was 13 at the time, had already admitted unlawful wounding and having an offensive weapon on school premises.
The jury deliberated for more than ten hours before reaching a majority guilty verdict of 11 to one on wounding with intent this afternoon, Wednesday, October 22.
She will be sentenced at a later date, likely next year.
Mrs Justice Christina Lambert KC said she would be ‘very reluctant’ to pass sentence without psychiatric evidence about the defendant. The girl heard the verdict via a video link from a secure unit, due to not ‘feeling 100 per cent’, the judge said.
For legal reasons she, the victim and the school cannot be identified.
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The defendant did not give evidence but her mum told the trial her attendance plummeted and it became a ‘nightmare’ to get her into school.
She became concerned her daughter was being bullied but said the teen would not disclose to her what was going on, fearing she would be called a ‘snitch’.
The defendant’s older sister described an incident months before the stabbing. She said a group of girls, including the victim, shouted at the defendant calling her a ‘b****’ and using a homophobic insult.
The victim, giving evidence, denied the incident but admitted she had told the defendant to ‘kill yourself’ in a Snapchat group, which included mutual friends.
She saidit was something the defendant had also said to her, as well as calling her ‘fat’.
The victim also accepted telling a friend, who was the defendant’s female partner, ‘you can do better, just leave her’, alleging the defendant had ‘cheated’.
The court heard the defendant had made a number of social media posts expressing suicidal themes. School staff regularly called her parents and attended her home due to her poor attendance.
She was also put on a ‘behaviour contract’ days before the stabbing.
Recalling the morning of the attack, a school staff member said she heard the defendant shouting ‘I hate you’ and possibly ‘I want to kill you’ towards the victim outside her office.