Youth violence in Bermuda is "out of control" and courts need to consider that when sentencing young offenders, a prosecutor urged yesterday.

Crown counsel Brett Webber spoke at Juvenile Court shortly before a 14-year-old girl who attacked another female student, leaving her with chronic neck pain and in fear for her safety, was given a two-year conditional discharge.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, earlier admitted unlawful assault causing bodily harm to the girl, who was the same age but from a different school. Mr. Webber told the court that the February 19 attack was "particularly angry and unprovoked" and urged the Juvenile Court panel to consider the impact on the victim when sentencing.

He read out a witness statement from the complainant, now aged 15, who said her assailant hit her repeatedly about the face and body, causing injuries which needed hospital treatment. The girl said she was very withdrawn since the assault and felt scared to go into Hamilton. She had been taunted since the incident, she claimed, by students from the defendant's and her own school.

"My grades have suffered because I'm so stressed from the attack," she said in the statement. "I have unwillingly become a loner. I will never forget her or the attack and how it has changed my young life."

Mr. Webber said: "The Crown's concern, of course, is the escalating violence currently among the youth of Bermuda. That has to be taken into consideration — that it is out of control."

A probation officer who carried out a social inquiry report on the defendant told the court that the attack appeared to be "completely out of character".

The officer said the youngster, who was suspended from school for a month after the assault, was unable to recall the incident because of memory problems she suffered due to a 2007 road accident.

The girl's lawyer Marc Daniels suggested that any sentence could include the two students sitting down together and talking to one another. He said his client was "a young lady who has never been in trouble before".

"She is adversely affected by the consequences of going to court and going through this process," said Mr. Daniels, who said his client was undergoing neurological tests for her memory problems. "She is certainly remorseful."

Acting Magistrate Anthony Richardson said the panel noted the Crown's concern about escalating youth violence. "How we stamp it out, how we deal with it, is a question that we still have difficulty in being able to find resolution for," he said.

He told the girl, who hopes to have a career in law, that she was being given a conditional discharge on the grounds that she abide by the terms of probation for two years.

"Everyone agrees that this was out of character," he said. "This is your opportunity to move forward but I do recommend that you take the time to deal with, I would suggest, anger management."