14yo boy jailed for 11 years over ‘racially motivated’ knife attack on teacher

A 14 year-old boy who stabbed his science teacher in a racially motivated attack and boasted on Facebook about sticking the blade through the victim's stomach has been jailed for 11 years.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attacked his teacher, Vincent Uzomah, after a row over his mobile phone at Dixons Kings Academy in Bradford in June.

Uzomah asked the teenager to hand over his phone when it started ringing in class, but instead, the boy left his science teacher with a deep abdominal wound.

Before stabbing his teacher with a kitchen knife, the boy racially abused Uzomah, muttering the words “bastard and n****.”

After the incident, the teenager fled his school but was tracked down by armed police six hours later in Bradford’s city center.

Hours after knifing Uzomah, the boy posted a Facebook message which read: “The mother***** getin funny so I stick the black straight in his tummy.”

Bradford Crown Court was told the youngster’s Facebook post received at least 69 likes. The judge, who presided over the case, said the likes were an “appalling reflection on a small microcosm of our society.”

The boy warned a friend he was planning to stab a teacher shortly before he took a knife into school, the court heard.

The boy remained silent during police interviews, but in a prepared statement said: “I’m really sorry for stabbing my teacher, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

His classmates described him as a “disruptive bully.” However, the school’s deputy head said before the attack one "could always relate to him and calm him down," after which "he would acknowledge his faults.”

The boy was a “low achiever” with a “history of truancy,” the court heard.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp told the court there was “clear evidence” the boy knifed Uzomah because he was black.

The boy held a grievance against the teacher, who had been working at the school for seven weeks, Sharp told the court.

The youngster was originally charged with attempted murder. However, he denied these allegations, while admitting causing grievous bodily harm.

The boy “disliked” Uzomah, claiming he “couldn’t teach," Sharp told the court.

A witness described the teenager as “angry” and “red in the face” as he attacked Uzomah.

“He approached Mr Uzomah and reached into his pocket, but at that point he took out the knife and stabbed Mr Uzomah in the stomach,” Sharp told the court.

Sentencing the defendant, Judge Durham Hall QC said the boy’s actions were “out of control” and he is a bully who “could not tolerate being told off.”

But Uzomah said he has forgiven the teenager who inflicted this "trauma and pain” on him and his family because he is a Christian.

Speaking outside the court, he said: “It was, however, important for the law to run its course and for a strong message to be sent out, especially to kids of similar tendencies, that violence is never acceptable.”

The teacher said he is praying that the teenager will “make use of the opportunities and support that will be provided to him” throughout his life.

He said he hopes the teen becomes a “changed person” who will make a “positive contribution to society.”