Albury girl survives attack by teens who stabbed her, burnt house down

A teenager’s quick-thinking decision to play dead after she was “senselessly” stabbed by two boys could be the reason she is still alive, a court heard.

A teenager’s quick-thinking decision to play dead after she was “senselessly” stabbed by two boys and left to die in a house fire could be the reason she is alive today.

The chilling agreed facts from the morning a girl received fractures and a punctured liver in southern NSW were read to the Albury Children’s Court in a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday.

The girl being taken to hospital after the attack in 2019. Picture: 9 News

The two 19-year-old men, who cannot be named because they were teenagers at the time, pleaded guilty to destroying property with the intent to endanger life and causing grievous bodily harm with attempt to murder. They will be referred to as DC and EW.

Crown Prosecutor Paul Kerr told the court the boys arrived at the 16-year-old victim’s Swan St home just after midnight on a Monday in November 2019.

The victim’s mother, who answered the door, let them stay in the spare room after they told her they were homeless, the court heard.

She went to work that morning at 6.30am, leaving her daughter and the two boys at home.

The court heard the girl knew DC from school but she had never met the other boy.

They joined her in the loungeroom to smoke some cannabis and listen to music.

But Mr Kerr said the mood shifted about 8.30am, after the girl left the room to look for a cigarette lighter.

She returned and saw EW standing next to the wall on her right holding a knife with a long serrated edge and dark handle, with the tip pointing directly at her.

“He put his left arm around her head in a headlock and placed the blade against her throat, pulling it (from) one side to the other,” Mr Kerr told the court.

The girl fell to the floor holding her throat, while DC pinned her down on her back, telling EW to “hold her down”.

The court heard DC then grabbed the knife and stabbed her in the stomach while EW choked her.

“She saw DC raise the knife again so she turned on her stomach. She received a further stab to the back and another to the temple,” Mr Kerr told the court.

DC told EW “We need to finish this”, the court heard.

At this point, she stopped struggling or screaming and pretended to play dead.

The pair then set the house on fire and fled the home, while she lay on the floor bleeding out.

Neighbours who spotted the fire called out to see if she was home and heard the girl moaning back, but they could not get inside due to the smoke and flames, the court heard.

Emergency services managed to rescue her from the home, where she lay conscious but unresponsive.

The two youths were arrested at a home nearby by police.

The court heard DC eventually admitted his involvement, telling police he was “sorry (he) didn’t try and do anything to save her.”

EW denied he was involved.

In a victim statement read to court, the victim said she had gone from a “happy bubbly” girl to a broken person with PTSD.

“It was senseless. Now, I’m scared to be left alone. I don’t trust anyone,” the statement, read by Mr Kerr, said.

She described the horrific panic attacks she experiences, in which she convulses on the floor.

She said her family lost their belongings in the fire and ended up moving eight times in two years.

The pair will be sentenced on Tuesday.