Pizza hijinks lead to teen’s wrist stabbed

A BOY who was stabbed by an older student on a school bus told police his attacker was trying to steal his pizza.

An 18- year- old pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding when he faced Townsville District Court.

The court heard the teenager stabbed the then 13- yearold schoolmate on a bus ride on September 1, 2017.

Because of his age at the time of the incident, the attacker cannot be named.

Crown prosecutor Will Slack said the boys were Kirwan State High School students at the time of the stabbing and had been waiting for the bus together. The victim bought a pizza before going to the bus stop and even gave his attacker a slice of pizza.

Once on the bus the pair sat across from each other before the older student armed himself with a knife.

“You swung your hand above the complainant’s head … ( he) thought you were trying to steal his pizza,” Judge Greg Lynham said.

“You struck the complainant with a blade you were holding. To your credit you immediately removed a tea towel from a water bottle you were carrying and gave that to the complainant who put that over the wound.”

The attacker told the boy he had intended to stab the pizza box. The boy suffered a small wound to his wrist in the incident and did not require stitches.

The prosecution submitted a short term of imprisonment to be served at an intensive corrections order rather than actual time incarcerated would be an appropriate punishment.

However, Judge Lynham thought such a punishment would be excessive, labelling the behaviour as “horseplay” or “blatant stupidity” rather than a malicious attack.

“When the complainant saw your arm move he baulked and as a consequence of that you made contact with the complainant’s forearm,” Judge Lynham said.

“I accept for purpose of sentencing that your offending might be more properly described as foolish … in fact one of your referees describes you as an idiot.”

When considering his sentence Judge Lynham noted the teen was expelled from school due to the incident and that he suffered other consequences including losing friends. He also took into account the teen’s age and lack of criminal history when sentencing him to a 12- month probation order.