Boy, 15, 'stabbed bully with kitchen knife'

A 15-YEAR-OLD boy who said he was bullied at school stabbed one of his tormentors with the 'biggest and sharpest' knife he could find, a court was told yesterday.

The boy, who had taken the weapon from his mother's kitchen, plunged the blade into the side of a 14-year-old, the Inner London Crown Court at Elephant and Castle, south London, was told.

Paul Clarke, for the prosecution, said the boy had explained to police that he had taken the knife to his school in south London to frighten off the alleged bullies, and had not meant to hurt anyone. But Mr Clarke maintained that he had not acted in self-defence.

He said the pupil told officers that the day before the stabbing last January, another boy had snatched his bag. During an argument involving the 14-year-old, a knife had been mentioned, although the defendant did not see one.

Mr Clarke said that the following morning the alleged bullies came to the defendant's classroom. He said the latter 'lost his temper', pulled the knife from his bag, pushed past his teacher and ran outside, where he waved the weapon around. He thrust the blade once into his victim then, after a struggle, he was disarmed by his teacher, the court heard.

The boy, who cannot be named, denies wounding with intent and a lesser charge of unlawful wounding.