A former high school teacher has pleaded guilty after holding a knife to a principal’s throat and then trying to stab him with that knife and another knife, telling a court he became “unbelievably angry” in the minutes before the frenzied attack.
Kim Ramchen pleaded guilty to three charges – assault with a weapon, unlawful assault and intentionally cause injury – at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
“My blood just went to my head, and I just became incredibly angry, and emotional, incredibly, unbelievably angry,” the 37-year-old told police when questioned over the incident.
On December 2, the IT teacher took a 10-centimetre knife from a staff kitchen at Keysborough Secondary College before entering principal Aaron Sykes’ office, the court was told.
Sykes was alone in his office, and Ramchen attacked, putting the knife up to the principal’s throat.
The court heard the pair wrestled and ended up on the floor, with Sykes yelling, “I didn’t do anything.” Other teachers rushed to the office, where they saw Ramchen kneeling on top of Sykes and trying to stab him with the knife.
Two teachers pulled Ramchen off Sykes and dragged him into the hallway, but he was able to escape. Ramchen returned to the nearby kitchen, where he grabbed a larger chef’s knife.
The school was placed in lockdown and emergency services called, but Sykes, who was covered in blood, was unable to lock his office.
After obtaining the second knife, Ramchen stormed back into the office and punched Sykes before attempting to stab him again.
The school’s deputy principal rushed to Sykes’ aid, and was able to pull Ramchen off the principal. Three others then restrained the teacher on the ground, while Sykes went to the sick bay for help.
When arrested, Ramchen told police he “mentally snapped” after learning his teaching contract would not be renewed in 2026. He said his intention was to incapacitate the principal and that he had been acting on impulse during the knife attack.
Sykes was rushed to The Alfred hospital. He had cuts to his jaw, face and arms and bruises to his back. He has been unable to return to work since the incident, the court was told.
Ramchen had been working at Keysborough Secondary College for 18 months, but his mental health began to deteriorate due to marriage problems and upon learning about his contract. He was also addicted to opioids, and was taking them daily to cope, the court heard.
His barrister, Amelia Beech, said the “lasting effects of his tragic and dysfunctional childhood” combined with the stressors of parenthood and undiagnosed mental health challenges “collided in a spectacular fashion” on the day of the attack.
She said his childhood had been marred by tragedy and dysfunction, with his adolescence “similarly heartbreaking”, but he had been able to succeed at school. Ramchen was four years old when his mother went missing from the family home, and was a teenager when his father died from pancreatic cancer in 2002.
Ramchen formerly worked as a software engineer, a cybersecurity researcher in the US and a tutor in the University of Melbourne’s engineering department before turning to teaching.
Beech said he was unable to reconcile why his contract was not being renewed, “and was effectively paralysed and unable to properly apply for other roles”.
A doctor who examined Ramchen said the teacher believed he was “treated unjustly, and came to consider the principal was primarily responsible for this”, the court was told.
Beech said a community corrections order and prison sentence would be the best course of action for her client so that he could obtain mental health assistance.
Prosecutor J.J. Jassar said a combined sentence could be appropriate, but noted the 37-year-old had expressed no remorse for his crimes and had been aware of the wrongfulness of his conduct at the time.
“This was evident in his efforts to conceal the knife as he took it into the principal’s office,” Jassar said.
He also noted Ramchen’s return to the kitchen after being initially disarmed, and his securing of a second, larger knife. The prosecutor called this – along with the attack having occurred on school grounds – a highly aggravating feature.
“No one in their workplace would ever imagine that a colleague would attack them and attack them with a knife,” he said.
Ramchen is to be sentenced on Monday.
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Caroline Schelle is an education reporter, and joined The Age in 2022. She previously covered courts at AAP.Connect via X or email.
