A TEENAGE thug who stabbed a classmate four times with a scalpel after a fall out during a biology lesson has avoided being sent to detention.

The 16-year-old attacked his then 15-year-old victim near the school gates at lunch time.

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During an “altercation” the accused punched the schoolboy and about a minute later further away from the school in Glasgow, he repeatedly stabbed him.

The injured teen was taken back to school and given first aid before being taken to hospital.

Police soon caught up with the accused who had run towards his home in the Gorbals area.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court the 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pled guilty to assault to injury and danger of life on March 2, 2015.

Sheriff Aisha Anwar sentenced him to a community payback order with the condition he must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community and will be supervised for two years.

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He was also given a tag for four months.

Despite being underage the 16-year-old’s Facebook page is littered with photographs of him with friends, posing with bottles of Buckfast.

The court heard the boys were both 15 at the time of the incident and in fourth year at school.

Procurator fiscal depute Lindsay Docherty said in the run up to the incident they had exchanged Facebook messages.

The court heard the accused said to his friend “If you’re sound with me I’m sound with you” and the victim replied “I’m sound”.

Miss Docherty said that on the day of the incident both boys were in a biology class before lunchtime and “words were exchanged”.

She said: “When walking out for lunch with his friends at approximately 1.15pm the complainer saw the accused on the street outside the school.

“There was an altercation and the accused punched him.

“There was then a fight between the two and pupils crowded round. As far as the victim is aware the fight was just between the two of them albeit with others in the crowd shouting, however the accused’s perception is that others were punching him.”

The court heard that at no point did either boys shout about fighting each other but pupils in the crowd round them started shouting “take the fight down the road” or similar words.

The walked further down the street and began fighting again.

Miss Docherty said: “About a minute down the street there was a second altercation during which the accused brought a craft knife out of his pocket and struck the complainer with it.

“The complainer threw punches and was repeatedly struck by the accused about his body with the craft knife four times.”

They were split up and the victim walked away but soon spotted his left arm was bleeding and was taken back to school.

Miss Docherty added that the injuries had a “potential danger to life” although said the injuries suffered were not life threatening, and he was given a course of antibiotics.

The court heard the scalpel used was from the art department in the school.

Solicitor advocate Billy Lavelle said that his client claims he punched the schoolboy at lunch time when they had an “aggressive verbal exchange” because he thought he would be attacked.

Mr Lavelle said his client’s position is he was then attacked by the victim and others.