Teen who used religious knife to stab schoolboy walks free

The parents of a teenage boy stabbed twice in a schoolyard fight have slammed a court’s ‘lenient’ penalty on the attacker.

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy who used a Sikh knife to stab another teen in a schoolyard fight, leaving his victim with life-threatening injuries, has avoided jail because a court ruled he was carrying the knife for religious reasons.

A NSW District Court judge sentenced the teen to a three-year community correction order on Monday saying she didn’t consider it to be premeditated because he was in possession of the knife as part of his faith.

The offender, who is now 16, pleaded guilty to recklessly causing grievous bodily harm after he used a Sikh knife, known as a kirpan, to stab another student twice in the chest and back during a fight at Glenwood High School last year.

The 16-year-old victim spent 12 days in hospital being treated for a punctured kidney, intestine and liver. He bears a scar down the front of his chest where 33 staples were inserted after doctors urgently opened up his chest to stem the bleeding.

The knife struck the victim’s bowel, kidney and small intestine. He underwent emergency surgery and had 33 staples to his chest after doctors opened him up to stop the internal bleeding. Picture: Supplied

His distraught mother screamed out in court “that’s so unfair” when Judge Sophia Beckett told the offender he would not face any jail time.

Outside court, the victim’s mother said the judge’s leniency flies in the face of all the work by NSW Police to stamp out knife crime.

“A knife is a knife, whether it’s a religious one or not, it’s a blade and it almost killed my son,” the mother said.

The victim’s father said the punishment provided no deterrent for other teenagers and sends the wrong message to the community.

“In other states you aren’t allowed to carry one of these knives (a kirpan) to school, but here you can...and it’s just so wrong you can stab someone and pretty much get a slap on the wrist,” he said.

Following the schoolyard stabbing on May 6, the NSW Government introduced a snap ban on religious knives in schools.

A kirpan worn by members of the Sikh community.

But the decision was overturned less than four months later when the Sikh community appealed it.

As part of their faith, Sikhs must carry a sharpened dagger known as a kirpan. The religion tells adherents they must also wear a turban and a metal bracelet, not cut their hair and carry a small wooden comb with them at all times to signify their commitment.

The court heard the fight between the two boys, who were in different grades and didn’t previously know each other, started when the offender was staring down the victim, and the victim went to ask why.

A brief punch on happened between the pair before the offender pulled out a 10cm knife from beneath his clothing.

“He chased the victim yelling “I’m going to kill you”...then stood over him and stabbed him twice before running away,” Judge Beckett said in her sentencing remarks.

The now 16-year-old stabbed another teenager with a religious knife at school last year. Picture: Jonathan Ng

In his victim impact statement read out in court, the now 17-year-old boy - who sleeps with a baseball bat beside his bed out of fear - said the attack caused him to lose 11kg in two weeks and left him feeling unmotivated and struggling at school.

“I suffer sleep paralysis and nightmares since this happened...I have managed to regain some control over my mental wellbeing, but still to this day have a level of anxiety and hypervigilance in stressful situations,” the victim said.

“School was an anxious place for me, being around all the kids and being near the place where it happened, made me feel like I was always on fight or flight mode,” he said.

Judge Beckett said the offender had been the victim of bullying for many years before the attack, although not by the victim, and she found he suffered from a depressive mental illness.

“The use of knives in schools is abhorrent....but this young person had it (the kirpan) in his possession as part of the five practices of his faith,” she said.

The teen was sentenced to a three-year community correction order and must abide by a night curfew for the next six-months where he can only leave home after 5pm in the company of his parents.

He covered his face with a bag as he left court with his parents and brother.