Teacher Stabbed in Head by Teen She Offered to Help Says: 'Leaving Teaching Should Have Been My Choice'
A history teacher who was stabbed in the head by a teenage student after she agreed to check his coursework said Thursday that the attack has left her with “sadness, anger and guilt” — and that the decision about whether she stays in teaching should have been hers alone.
Vicki Williams was attacked on Feb. 5 in her classroom at Milford Haven Comprehensive School in Pembrokeshire, Wales, by a 15-year-old she had offered to help with a history assignment. At a sentencing hearing Thursday at Swansea Crown Court, the young man, now 16, was ordered to serve four and a half years in youth detention. He had been found guilty in July of wounding with intent and unlawful wounding, but was acquitted of attempted murder.
In a personal victim statement, Williams told the court she is set to begin therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, and described a lingering sense of shock. “Sadness is the most predominant,” she said, according to the BBC. “I focus too much on what could have happened to me. I’m in disbelief about what’s happened.” At one point, Williams said, she feared her daughter had “almost been left without a mum.”
An attack that ‘came out of nowhere’
Williams previously testified that the pupil followed her into an empty classroom after asking for extra help with his history coursework. According to her account, the door was closed and she became suspicious when he blamed the temperature. She asked if he was all right, and then, she said, he pulled a knife from his bag and lunged at her.
Williams has described a look of “pure hatred” on the boy’s face and said she believed she was going to die. A fellow teacher who heard her calling for help rushed into the room. CCTV showed the teenager running from the scene immediately after the attack.
Teen’s account rejected by judge
In his version of events, the teenager claimed the stabbing was an accident and that Williams had “tried to grab” the knife. He also told the court he had brought the weapon to school for a game with friends that involved seeing who could sneak the most ridiculous item onto campus.
Judge Paul Thomas forcefully rejected that explanation. “What I do know for certain is that you took a knife that day to school because you wanted to really hurt her with it,” he said. Describing the attacker as “bigger and stronger” than Williams, Thomas said it was “pure luck” she did not suffer worse or fatal injuries.
‘Leaving teaching should have been my choice’
Williams said she is uncertain whether she can continue teaching in the same way after the assault, and voiced frustration that her career may now be affected by something she never asked for. “My fellow teachers and I don’t deserve this because we work so hard. I didn’t ask for this,” she said. “Leaving teaching should have been my choice to make.”
The case has sent shockwaves through the school community and has renewed attention to the dangers teachers can face in classrooms. For Williams, the aftermath extends far beyond the courtroom: She is starting therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and trying to rebuild a sense of security after a moment she said almost took her life. Her testimony, which painted a harrowing picture of split-second violence, has become a reminder of how quickly trust between a teacher and student can turn into something unrecognizable.