Willetton Senior High School stabbing: Teen gets reduced sentence in Children’s Court amid Banksia Hill crisis

A teenager who tried to kill her teacher as part of a plot with her friend has had her detention sentence reduced because of the ongoing crisis plaguing Banksia Hill. The girl was facing a lengthy sentence for trying to kill her teacher by stabbing her in the armpit at Willetton Senior High School last year. But, Children’s Court President Hylton Quail heavily discounted the term after learning that rolling lockdowns — where children are kept in their cells because of staff shortages — were expected to continue into early next year. The girl instead received three years and one month in detention for the premeditated crime, which she committed after luring the woman to a student services area by pretending she had a “good surprise”. The reduced sentence means she could be free in just 15 months. Banksia Hill Detention Centre has been in the spotlight in recent months after children were unlawfully locked down for more than 20 hours. In a recent Supreme Court ruling, Justice Paul Tottle found one teen had been locked down for 20 hours on 26 occasions, and had even been confined for 24 hours three times in a single week. Judge Quail said he visited the facility on Tuesday where he was told that because of critical staff shortages those lockdowns would continue for the rest of the year and most likely for the first quarter of 2023. He told the girl this was the reason he was reducing her sentence because it was likely that she will serve a large portion of her time in detention “under difficult conditions”. The court was told that, over the past fortnight, the now 15-year-old had spent six days in an “unlawful lockdown” and had not had proper access to education or recreational activities, even when she was out of her cell. But Judge Quail said he still needed to punish the girl for the serious crime. The court was told that the girl, who was 14 at the time of the crime, had spent weeks devising a plan on how to end her teacher’s life and had even joked with her co-accused - who received a reduced sentence of 11 months for her role - on messaging app, Discord, about their other plot to burn down their school. And while it was the co-accused who first suggested the stabbing it was the teen who decided on delivery. She had read stabbing in the armpit was an effective way to murder someone. The girl also weighed up how long she would spend locked up if she succeeded, telling her friend she expected to spend between four to eight years behind bars. And she even planned to commit the crime on November 1, so she could celebrate Halloween first. On the day of the attack, the pair rode their bikes to school where the teen revealed to her younger friend that she had acquired a knife. She then asked her to hide it because her bag was being searched daily in line with the school’s risk management plan which was put in place due to the girl’s mental health issues and history of self-harm. The court was told three other students who overheard her plan tried to dissuade her but the teen dismissed their pleas to stop. The girl then found the teacher and asked to speak to her, telling her: “Miss, I have something for you.” When the teacher asked whether it was a good surprise or bad surprise, the teen replied: “A good surprise.” At the same time, the three students who had overheard, made their way to the building and alerted the receptionist who motioned for the victim to come outside. It was as the teacher stood up that the teen lunged at her with the knife, plunging it into her armpit. The teacher sustained a 1cm shallow wound. And while the wound might have healed, Judge Quail said the attack had left with her deep emotional scars. In sentencing the girl, Judge Quail said he took into account her guilty plea and that she was not emotionally stable at the time, highlighting a psychiatric report that said she was at risk of developing borderline personality disorder. He said she had also made “remarkable” progress in her rehabilitation and referred to a letter she wrote to her victim in which she described feeling like “a monster” for the hurt she caused. She also told how she recognised that words could not change what she did.