A JUDGE has branded a violent attack on a teenage boy in which he was stabbed twice as he walked home from a Derby school as "utterly cowardly".
Judge John Burgess spoke as he sentenced one of a group of youths involved in the incident back in February 2013.
The victim, who was 15 at the time of the incident, was attacked as he walked home.
Yesterday, a 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a rehabilitation order with a supervision requirement of two years, a tagged curfew and a restraining order forbidding him to contact the victim.
The defendant must also pay £200 compensation to the victim.
The defendant was one of six youths originally brought before the court in March to face charges of violent disorder, to which they all pleaded guilty, and the more serious charge of wounding with intent. Five youths were cleared of the latter offence, leaving the sixth defendant to face trial.
The jury failed to reach a verdict and a second trial was held at which he was found guilty.
Sentencing him at Derby Crown Court yesterday, Judge John Burgess said: "I am not sentencing you on the basis that you were the person that wounded the victim but wounded he was and circumstances in which he received those injuries are quite disgraceful. Someone pushed him and someone stabbed him.
"He tripped and fell and was kicked. He managed to get up and say stop.
"Eventually, one of the attackers said 'come on lets go' and you all ran away. It was utterly cowardly."
Mark Harries , in mitigation, said: "We are dealing with a 17-year-old who was 15 at the time of these offences. I am not one to use cliches too readily but to say that he went off the rails at the beginning of 2013 would be the best way of describing it.
"Both this young man and his family recognise the seriousness.
"He has not come here with any misapprehension. He and his father have been anxious and concerned about the determination.
"The maturity he has demonstrated to accept ultimately what he did wrong is a step in the right direction."
Judge Burgess said he also had to take into consideration an offence of actual bodily harm in which a man was beaten up on March 23, 2013.
Derby Crown Court was told previously that the attack happened three days after "a playground scuffle". Some of the boys were excluded from the school, which cannot be identified.
At a separate sentencing in June, the other five youths who pleaded guilty to violent disorder were given 12-month youth referral orders, with a four-month curfew and 20 days of a reparation activity.
They were ordered to pay a total of £1,050 in compensation to the victim.
