A 13-year-old boy who stabbed a teenage girl in the street in an apparently motiveless attack has been spared custody.

The youngster, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, left his 15-year-old victim needing emergency bowel surgery from the wound inflicted with a kitchen knife on March 22 this year.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that the boy, then aged 12, had crouched behind a car in Adelaide Drive, Sittingbourne, before pouncing on his victim shortly before 4pm.

The girl, said to have been stabbed "hard" in the abdomen by her assailant, had to be taken to King's College Hospital in London due to the nature of her injury.

The boy, who had never been in trouble with the police previously, was arrested the next day and charged with attempted murder.

However, a decision was made in April following a review by the CPS that the appropriate offence for the baby-faced defendant to face was the less serious one of wounding with intent.

The case was therefore sent back to the youth court where, having denied the charge and given evidence, he was subsequently found guilty at the conclusion of a trial.

However, as the district judge considered her sentencing powers to be limited for such a grave matter, proceedings were once again committed to the crown court.

It was there on Monday (December 2) that the boy, smartly dressed in shirt, trousers and tie, appeared to learn his fate.

Due to his age, he was allowed to sit in the well of the courtroom rather than the dock, with his parents on one side and his solicitor the other.

The barristers and judge, who moved closer to sit just a few feet away, removed their wigs and gowns, with the hearing conducted in a much more relaxed manner so that he could follow and understand the legalities.

At one point he was seen to yawn and he also interrupted Judge Philip Statman to ask what the word 'vulnerability' meant.

But after reports from a psychologist and the youth justice team were considered, it was made clear to the teenager just how serious the offence was that he had committed.

Having remarked on the "very real public concern and interest in a wholly exceptional case", Judge Statman said: "The victim was 15 years old at the time. She was a schoolgirl. It is not possible to say with any certainty why it was that you attacked her with a knife.

"I must not speculate as to why this occurred but on any view she received a stab wound which was really serious.

"It could have been even worse than it was and it is important that you understand that members of the public are very scared indeed when they know that there are young people who feel the need to carry knives into our streets and, in this case, to use them to cause harm to another young person."

Detailing the attack itself, Judge Statman continued: "You transferred a knife from your school bag into your pocket. I have watched CCTV footage of you crouching by a car and when it came to the actual moment when you stabbed her, you stabbed her hard."

The court heard that there was no suggestion he had stalked his victim, someone the judge described as a "once happy youngster without a worry in the world" who, as well as her physical injury, had suffered psychologically and needed counselling.

It was also said that the young defendant, who has suffered his own personal traumas and shown signs of both ADHD and autism, had previously taken the knife into school in the belief that he would himself come to harm.

But despite the fact he was said to still pose a high risk of further offending, his age at the time was described as being "absolutely critical" in the sentencing process.

For that reason, said the judge, he was to be considered "not as a mini adult but as a child", and one who the psychologist had concluded was himself "puzzled" by his behaviour and found it difficult to express "how sorry" he was.

Judge Statman said although an alternative to a spell behind bars could be found, it was "of very grave importance" that the youth was given the necessary help and support so that he never armed himself with a weapon or committed such a crime again.

"I think as you mature and more work is done with you, you are perfectly capable of understanding that it is never, ever right to carry a knife. Ever," he told the teenager.

"There can never be an excuse for it. If you see that sort of thing among people who are your friends or mates, they are not mates.

"If you see something like that in the street, you run away and run as quickly and as far as you can."

On the issue of punishment, and any public criticism of it, Judge Statman concluded: "When I first looked at your papers I thought there would be absolutely no way of you avoiding being sent to detention - taken away from your family and put with boys who are older, more mature than you, and who would not have had a good influence on you.

"But one of the most important things about being a judge is listening to what you are told by people who have considerable expertise and then seeking to find a way forward.

"What I am going to do with you is to ensure that you, for the rest of your life I hope, will be in a situation where you will listen to what is being asked of you and you will never, ever, ever again go anywhere near a knife.

"There will be some people who will say the judge has got it wrong but you know, being a judge like me, I have to take responsibility. That's my duty.

"I take an oath on the Bible to do what I think is right and proper and if others think I have got it wrong, they have to make that decision. My only decision is to do my duty in accordance with my oath."

The boy was handed a 21-month youth rehabilitation order with a stringent package of conditions.

These include a tagged night-time curfew, a ban on staying away from the family home overnight unless authorised by the youth justice authority, completion of a weapons awareness programme and 30 hours of reparation, plus an education requirement.

He was also handed a five-year ban on entering a specific school and roads in Sittingbourne, including Adelaide Drive, and a seven-year restriction on contacting the victim.

Judge Statman also ordered quarterly reviews as to the boy's progress, warning of the serious consequences if he were to reoffend or breach the YRO in any way.

"I will without any hesitation send you away," he told the boy. "If you get into trouble, I'm afraid it's curtains. So just don't do it."

The youngster nodded and confirmed when asked that he understood.

His mother was handed a 12-month parenting order with conditions that include her completing a non-violence resistance programme.