Express & Echo (City & East Devon Edition)
Pupil accused of attempted murder kept a stash of weapons, trial hears
ABOY accused of a bloody attack on two pupils at a boarding school kept a stash of hammers and broken shards of glass in a locked drawer in his room, a trial has heard.
The boy, who cannot be named, claims he did not intend to kill and was sleepwalking when it happened.
The youth, who was 1 at the time, has gone on trial at Exeter Crown Court charged with attempted murder against two boys, aged 15 and 1, and Blundell’s School housemaster Henry Roffe-Silvester. A witness described the scene as a “bloodbath”.
Prosecutor James Dawes KC opened the case for the prosecution last week. He told the jury the horrifying incident happened shortly after midnight on June 9 of last year as the two boys were sleeping in their beds at the fee-paying private board- ing school in Tiverton.
Mr Dawes said the defendant had four claw hammers. He selected one and “quietly climbed up onto the top of the cabin bed” before delivering blows to the first boy.
“He smashed the hammer into their heads as they slept multiple times. Also the arms and back. He didn’t just use the flat end of the hammer, he used the claw as well to strike the boys,” Mr Dawes said.
Mr Dawes told the jury: “You may think whoever does that intends to kill the person he is attacking.”
One medic said it was the worst scene he had ever encountered in 20 years of emergency care. Another said he had served in Iraq and had never witnessed such a scene of carnage.
The prosecutor said both victims survived, not because of the actions of their attacker, but by the quick thinking of another boarding pupil who called 999, the skill of paramedics and surgeons.
But he said both boys, who have no memory of what happened, have suffered permanent damage to their brain functioning.
The noise alerted housemaster Mr Roffe-Silvester, who went to investigate. He went to the room but as soon as he opened the door was attacked by the boy, who hit him on the head with a hammer.
“He only knew after being hit that he had been hit,” said Mr Dawes. “He recalled the boy spinning around and hitting him on top of the head.”
As the teacher retreated he was struck again. “In total there were six impacts to his head,” said Mr Dawes. “After the sixth impact he managed to grab the hammer. He got his hands on the handle and wrenched it from the boy and that stopped the attack.”
The jury was told earlier this week that a few months before the savage incident teachers at the school confiscated one of his hammers.
But the youth went to a hardware shop in Tiverton and restocked. It is alleged he used at least two hammers in the attack.
The police body-worn video showed the alleged attacker after he had been disarmed and sat calmly in a chair, wearing just his boxer shorts and a T-shirt, in the matron’s room.
Asked by the police officer if the blood on his body was his he replied: “Probably theirs.” DNA tests later confirmed this.
The jury has also been played part of a 999 call made by one of the pupils. The injured boys could be heard groaning in the background as other students tried to help by compressing the wounds with towels.
The prosecution say it is not clear which of the boys was attacked first. They were both taken to hospital and had emergency brain operations.
One boy had been hit at least seven times, each blow causing a fracture to his head. He also had 25 lacerations on his skull and spent an initial period of five weeks in hospital before returning to have a plate fixed in his head. He is not back to his former abilities but making a
❝❝ He smashed the hammer into their heads as they slept multiple times... He didn’t just use the flat end of the hammer, he used the claw as well Prosecutor James Dawes
decent recovery, said the prosecutor.
The second boy was operated on for 10 hours and was in hospital until the end of July. He will also have lifelong injuries. Neither boy has any memory of what happened.
A forensic scientist has linked three blood-soaked hammers seized at the scene with DNA of the victims.
Mr Dawes said the results of the tests indicated the defendant had “changed hammers during the attack”.
Mr Roffe-Silvester told police that when he was attacked the boy appeared “expressionless”, neutral and unsettling.
The jury was told that in the aftermath of the attack the boy gave different accounts of why he committed the assault, including that he was “dreaming”. He also said: “I’m going to prison. I was sleepwalking.”
He is alleged to have told one boy he had “been watching horror movies and had weapons to prepare for the zombie apocalypse and to protect himself.”
Police analysed the phone of defendant. In the months leading up to the assaults he made extensive searches online about serial killers, prison sentences and hitting people with hammers
Mr Dawes said police had looked for a motive, such as bullying. But in a school survey he had not raised any issues on the subject. The prosecution case is that one of the victims said the defendant had bullied him but the housemaster thought the issue had been resolved.
The defendant, who is now 17 years old and cannot be identified due to his age, has pleaded not guilty to the three charges.