Schoolboy ‘ kept f ighting’ despite fatal stab wound
TRAGIC Bailey Gwynne kept fighting even after his heart had been pierced by his opponent’s blade, the court heard yesterday.
Computer science teacher Alasdair Sharp, 28, said he found the two teenagers involved in a tussle near the toilets and saw Bailey throw punches. He said: ‘They were grabbing each other. There were a couple of punches thrown. It looked like it was from both sides.’
Mr Sharp said he shouted ‘Oi!’ and approached the boys, who stopped fighting. He asked what was going on and he said Bailey told him: ‘He called my mother fat.’ The teacher told both boys to follow him to the school office.
He said he noticed a small amount of blood on Bailey’s shirt on the left side of his body and intended to get him first aid. The three of them walked through a recreation area known as ‘The Street’ and when they got to the end of it, he turned and saw Bailey staggering: ‘Bailey was staggering towards the wall with his arm up, stumbling forward.’
Mr Sharp said he thought he saw the other boy try to help him: ‘At this point I noticed the blood going along The Street behind him. He became very pale and there was a lot of blood coming out of him. To begin with he seemed fairly coherent but as events unfolded he began to lose consciousness.’
Asked by advocate depute Alex Prentice what he did then, he said: ‘I panicked, to be honest. I didn’t do much to help Bailey beyond that point.’
Mr Sharp said other staff quickly tended to the boy and he waited until police arrived. He had not known who either boy was at the time of the incident and only later became aware of their names.
Defence counsel Ian Duguid told the teacher his statement to the police suggested Bailey was the one throwing punches. He asked the teacher why he was now saying both boys were punching each other.
Mr Sharp said his statement to the police was likely to be more accurate as his memory was fresher. He agreed both boys were ‘tussling’.