Alex Tye, 17, admitted attempted murder in January
A boy has been sentenced to detention for life for stabbing a girl he had been dating seven times in the neck.
The 16-year-old girl was attacked on grassland in Benhall near Saxmundham, Suffolk, on 2 October, but survived.
She was found by a dog walker four hours later and has been left mostly paralysed from the neck down.
Alex Tye, 17, admitted attempted murder in January and was handed a minimum term of 12-and-a-half years in prison at Ipswich Crown Court.
In a video statement, the victim said: “If I had died he would have won.”
The judge lifted reporting restrictions to allow Tye, of Low Road in Friston, to be named, due to the serious nature of the crime.
‘I would kill’
The court heard Tye stabbed the teenager, who he had been secretly dating, after his girlfriend broke up with him when she found out about the relationship.
Tye told the ex-girlfriend the victim was “meaningless” to him, the court heard, and had sent her a message saying “I would kill to get you back” after the pair split.
It was then told he had messaged the victim and arranged to meet her at night in a park.
The victim had jokingly asked Tye, “You are not going to stab and kill me?”, when she received the unexpected invitation.
Image source, Google
The girl was discovered by a dog walker about four hours after being stabbed seven times
The pair chatted on a bench for more than an hour and kissed, before Tye stabbed her in the back of the neck as they were leaving the park.
The court heard the victim survived by “pure chance” and she was in rehabilitation to try to get back as much movement as possible.
It was told the girl pretended to be dead after the attack and did not scream until Tye had driven away from the scene.
She was unable to move and was discovered by a dog walker, who then called the emergency services.
The court was told Tye had researched which parts of the body were the worst to be stabbed and how long it took someone to die of a stab wound, several weeks before the attack.
The teenager had also admitted possession of a bladed article earlier this year.
The defendant was handed a minimum term of 12-and-a-half years in prison at Ipswich Crown Court
In a video statement recorded for the court, the victim said: “Often what happened does not feel real. Sometimes it feels like I am in a movie.
“Sometimes it feels like a camera will fall out of the sky and I will be in a reality TV show.
“I was so scared. I did not want him to win. If I had died he would have won.”
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