Teachers thought they were going to die after pupil stabbed them, trial hears

Two teachers thought they were going to die when a pupil stabbed them, a trial has heard.

A teenage girl is on trial accused of the attempted murders of Fiona Elias, Liz Hopkin and a pupil.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is on trial at Swansea Crown Court after the alleged incident in Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, on 24 April.

The jury of eight men and four women have been told the defendant has admitted three charges of wounding with intent and a further charge of possession of a bladed article on school premises.

She denies three counts of attempted murder.

Jurors were shown the teachers' police interviews on Wednesday morning.

In the footage shown in court, Mrs Elias, an assistant headteacher at the school, told officers she thought she was going to die.

"When she started stabbing me, I think I thought 'I'm going to die', I thought that was it," she said.

The court heard how Mrs Elias told the defendant she was not allowed in the lower school hall during morning break and needed permission from her head of year.

When Mrs Elias and colleague Mrs Hopkin were later talking outside the lower school building, the defendant approached them.

Mrs Elias said the defendant was occasionally "quite hostile towards [her]" but that she "felt comfortable being around her".

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When the defendant approached them, Mrs Elias said she seemed "very distant, very menacing" and was "making [her] feel uncomfortable".

She said in the interview that her arms were "just stinging with the pain of what happened".

The court heard school staff had been given permission to conduct "regular bag searches" on the defendant after an incident at the beginning of the school year.

Mrs Hopkin told police in her interview that she did not know the defendant prior to the incident.

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She said she "thought she was going to kill [her] because she went for my neck and there wasn't anything I could do to stop her, really".

"Everything seemed silent. Even though there were hundreds of kids around, at that point everything seemed silent. I can't remember any noise," she said.

"I don't even know. I just felt like she's going to kill me. She's going to kill me now and that would be it."

The trial continues.