Schoolboy gets 11 years for stabbing teacher in class
Reuters
August 10, 2015, 10:54 pm
LONDON (Reuters) - A 14 year-old British schoolboy was sentenced to 11 years in jail on Monday after stabbing his teacher in the stomach in front of his class.
The boy had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing at Bradford Crown Court to causing grievous bodily harm with intent during the attack on Vincent Uzomah in April, the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.
"Mr Uzomah was stabbed deeply in the stomach, with a knife that the youth had brought into the school specifically for that purpose," said Crown Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp.
"This was a truly shocking incident: a pre-planned attack by a 14 year old youth on his teacher, in front of the rest of the class."
The boy, who was a pupil at Dixons Kings Academy in Bradford, attacked 50-year-old Uzomah after an argument over his mobile phone, the BBC reported.
The attack was in part racially motivated, Sharp said. The pupil, who is too young to be named, used a highly offensive racist word just before stabbing Uzomah, who is black, he said.
“The victim has suffered serious physical and psychological injuries, has had to put his career plans on hold and is uncertain when, or if, he will feel able to return to teaching – a profession he loved", he said.
The boy also posted an update on the social network Facebook boasting of what he had done, which received 69 "likes" from his circle of friends, the prosecutor said.
The attack came less than 14 months after another teacher, Ann Maguire, was stabbed to death at a school in Leeds by a 15-year-old pupil who was sentenced to life imprisonment.
(Reporting by Angus Berwick; editing by Stephen Addison)
