A U.K. teacher who was stabbed in the head by a teenage student she was trying to help has spoken out about the terrifying attack and the emotional toll it has taken on her life.
Vicki Williams appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Thursday, Sept. 3, for the sentencing of the 16-year-old boy who attacked her inside a classroom at Milford Haven Comprehensive School in Wales on Feb. 5.
The teen, whose name has not been released because he is a minor, was found not guilty of attempted murder in July.
However, he was convicted of wounding with intent and unlawful wounding.
On Thursday, he was sentenced to four and a half years in youth detention, according to the BBC, The Guardian and The Telegraph.
Williams told the court in a victim impact statement that she has struggled with “sadness, anger and guilt” since the stabbing and is preparing to begin therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Sadness is the most predominant, I focus too much on what could have happened to me,” she said. “I’m in disbelief about what’s happened.”
She also said one of the hardest things to process is the thought that her daughter could have been left without a mother.
Williams previously testified that she believed she was going to die during the attack.
She said the student had a look of “pure hatred” on his face and that the assault appeared to come “out of nowhere.”
According to Williams, the teen, who was 15 at the time, followed her into an empty classroom after asking for help with a history assignment.
She said she became suspicious when he shut the classroom door behind him and blamed it on the temperature.
Williams said she asked him whether he was sure he was all right.
That was when, according to her testimony, the student pulled a knife from his bag and lunged at her.
“I ask him again, ‘Are you sure you’re alright?’ And then he pulls [the knife] out of the bag and lunges at me,” she told the court.
The teen disputed her version of events.
He claimed the stabbing was accidental and said Williams had tried to grab the knife.
Another teacher heard Williams calling for help and rushed into the room.
CCTV footage later showed the teenager running away from the classroom shortly after the attack.
The student also claimed he had brought the knife to school as part of a game with friends in which they tried to sneak increasingly ridiculous items onto campus.
During the sentencing hearing, Williams told the court the attack has left her questioning whether she can continue teaching.
“My fellow teachers and I don’t deserve this because we work so hard,” she said. “I didn’t ask for this. Leaving teaching should have been my choice to make.”
Judge Paul Thomas said the exact motive for the attack remained unclear.
But he rejected the idea that the knife had been brought to school harmlessly.
“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,” the judge told the teen.
Thomas described the student as “bigger and stronger” than Williams and said it was “pure luck” that the teacher had not suffered much more serious, or even fatal, injuries.
Williams is now preparing to begin PTSD treatment as she continues recovering physically and emotionally from the attack.
Milford Haven Comprehensive School did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An attorney for the teenager also did not immediately respond.
