A TEENAGER was confronted by a teacher moments after stabbing his classmate to death, a jury was told.
The 15-year-old defendant was still waving the hunting knife he had used to stab Harvey Willgoose on February 3.
PAA teacher confronted the defendant while he waved a knife[/caption]
PAHarvey Willgoose, 15, was allegedly stabbed to death by a fellow student on February 3[/caption]
He has admitted to manslaughter but denies murdering his classmate.
A pre-recorded interview with a teacher at All Saints Catholic School – where the attack took place – was played for Sheffield Crown Court today.
Carolyn Siddall said she became aware of a “student disturbance” at the start of the school lunch break.
She said: “When I turned around there was a boy (the defendant) wearing his school uniform and a thin sort-of waterproof jacket. And in his right hand, he had a knife which was more black than silver.
“He had a stance that was sort-of quite open with his arms, and the knife was very visible.
“He was waving the knife. But he appeared to be saying ‘I’m not gonna hurt anyone’.”
She and her colleague Rachel Hobkirk encouraged the boy to put the knife down several times.
However, he continued to wave it in the air.
Ms Siddall also said that there were no other students in between the teachers and the alleged killer.
At the time, Ms Siddall said she wasn’t aware of “anything he’d done with the knife”.
She believed that there “was a possibility that he might actually put it down” although reported that he did seem “sort-of-jumpy”.
If anything, she and her colleague believed it was “a bit of bravado” as he made no attempt to conceal the weapon.
She added: “Whilst we thought he might put it down, it was very much in a weapon pose at that time.”
The headteacher, Sean Pender, and assistant headteacher, Morgan Davis, then arrived at the scene.
Mr Davis would eventually get the knife from the defendant, while the headteacher took him to his office.
As Ms Siddall moved the rest of the schoolchildren to a safe space, she noticed a student on the floor for the first time.
She said: “I opened the doors and could see that there was a lot of blood on the courtyard.”
Ms Siddall then radioed to the office to call and ambulance, while the school went into lockdown.
In addition to Ms Siddall’s testimony, the jury has also been shown CCTV footage of Harvey being stabbed in the courtyard.
Another video interview with Sean Pender was also played in court.
The headteacher said: “I remember thinking ‘he’s got a knife, he’s got a knife, I can see it clearly’, and not what I would call a little pen knife.”
He said the defendant told him he had brought the knife for his own protection, out of fear he would be “jumped” on the way home.
Mr Pender added: “He never once said ‘how’s Harvey’, or ‘I’m sorry ‘ or anything like that.”
His defence lawyer, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, told the jury: “The defendant did not set out to kill or seriously hurt anyone.
“The defence say his actions that day were the end result of a long period of bullying, poor treatment and violence – things that built one upon another until he lost control and did tragically what we’ve all seen.”
The trial continues.
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