Surrey eye-stab girl says schoolchildren had a gang mentality

A teenage pupil stabbed in the eye with scissors has told of a "gang mentality" based on music and fashion tastes. The 15-year-old girl narrowly escaped losing her sight in the attack at a Surrey school last November.

One girl, 14, is charged with wounding with intent. Two others, aged 15, are charged with perverting the course of justice by hiding the scissors. All three deny charges over the alleged lunch break attack.

Giving evidence by video at Guildford Crown Court, she told how she had been the victim of a string of attacks. She said she had been threatened, and had even received prank calls at home, because she was labelled "a metaler" - a reference to her preference for heavy metal music. She explained that after the attack she had been scared to return to school in case friends of her attacker "try to finish the job".

"I mean, it's this gang mentality that my generation seems to insist upon and I want to stop it," she said. She also told the court how she had had nightmares about being stabbed whilst at school after years of bullying.

The jury heard how name-calling in the school canteen had escalated into the attack on the school playing fields last year. The three defendants - all pupils at the same school - asked around for a pair of scissors which they said they would use to cut the victim's long hair, it heard.

The victim told the court her attacker held the blade in her hand "like in the movie Psycho". She described feeling the blade puncture her eyelid, and of feeling further blows to her head and back.

The teenager denied suggestions by defence barrister Barry Kogan, acting for the 14-year-old defendant, that she had begun the fight by racially abusing his client or making aggressive moves.

The trial continues.

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