Knife teen admits dinner hall horror

Pupil scarred for life in school canteen attack

A BOY of 14 yesterday admitted slashing a pupil in the face in their school canteen.

The boy was 13 when he carried out the knife attack, a court heard.

The incident happened shortly before 9am in the dinner hall of a West Lothian secondary school.

Around 200 people were in the canteen as the subject of the attack was cut with what is understood to have been a kitchen knife.

The injured teenager was taken by ambulance to St John’s Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, for treatment to the gaping wound.

Livingston Sheriff Court was told that the victim, who was aged 14, would be scarred for life as a result of the assault, which took place in September. The accused, who gave an address in Aberdeenshire, travelled to Livingston for the hearing yesterday.

The youth admitted assaulting the other pupil by punching him on the head and ‘struggling with him whereby he was struck on the head with a knife’.

He was originally charged with striking the boy with the blade, but the Crown agreed to amend the wording of the indictment.

He also admitted assaulting another 14-year-old pupil by punching him on the head and body during the same incident.

The youth admitted having a knife on school premises. However, the Crown accepted his not guilty plea to sending threatening messages to the boy he punched and a 15year-old boy.

A charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by hiding the knife in order to conceal or dispose of evidence implicating him in the commission of the crime was also dropped.

Neither the accused, his vicat tims, nor the school can be named for legal reasons.

Jim Robertson, prosecuting, said there was no record of previous offending.

Defence solicitor Andy Aitken suggested the advice of the Children’s Reporter should be sought sentencing options, given his client’s age the time of the offence. Adjourning the case until July 19, Sheriff Martin Edington told the youth: ‘I’m going to ask advice from the Children’s Panel.

‘I’m also going to defer sentence so the social work department can prepare a report for the court.’

Last week the Scottish Daily Mail reported that tougher checks are being introduced for people buying knives online after a teenager was stabbed to death at a school.

The Scottish Government worked alongside politicians at Westminster on the legislation, which will mean online retailers have to carry out rigorous proof of age checks.

Bailey Gwynne, a pupil at Cults Academy, Aberdeen, was 16 when he was stabbed to death by a pupil in 2015.

‘Struck on the head with knife’