A remorseless teacher who stabbed his school principal has finally admitted his evil crime. Kim Ramchen, 38, of Mulgrave, stabbed Keysborough Secondary School principal Aaron Sykes last December after his contract was not renewed. Ramchen, a married father of one, twice attacked Mr Sykes with separate knives and was only stopped by the bravery of assistant principal Matt Sloan.
On Wednesday, Ramchen appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court via videolink from jail where he formally pleaded guilty to intentionally causing injury to Mr Sykes, assault with a weapon and the unlawful assault of Mr Sloan. Ramchen sat with his head down, sobbing and rubbing his forehead as a detailed summary of his cowardly attack was read aloud by Crown prosecutor JJ Jassar.
The plea deal, which saw several charges dropped, will see Ramchen serve no more than five years behind bars after the prosecution agreed with his barrister that the matter ought not be uplifted to the County Court of Victoria where greater sentences can be imposed. The court heard Ramchen had stormed out of his classroom at 3pm and launched at his boss with a small kitchen knife. Mr Sykes sustained a slash wound to his face and a stab wound to the forearm before Ramchen allegedly held the knife to his boss's throat.
"He walked straight towards the principal. He walked around the side of the desk, and was holding a knife … pointed the knife immediately at Mr Sykes and aimed for the left hand side of his neck," Mr Jassar said. The court heard Mr Sykes pleaded for his life as he desperately tried to restrain the blade. Staff heard horrific screams of 'help, help, get off me. Someone help.' One teacher told the court she saw Ramchen swinging the knife at Mr Sykes.
Other colleagues, including assistant principal Matthew Sloan, rushed in to pull the attacker off the bloodied principal. But the horror was not over. Ramchen broke free, returned to the kitchen, and grabbed a larger chef's knife. The court heard he burst back into the principal's office and launched a second frenzied attack - punching Mr Sykes and aiming the blade at his face and neck again. Staff described the chaos as they struggled to disarm him. Mr Sloan and others eventually pinned Ramchen down, with one teacher repeatedly yelling 'stop, Kim, stop.'
Mr Sykes was left with multiple wounds including a 2cm gash to his neck under the jawline, cuts to his cheek, lip, forearm, and bruises across his back. He was taken to hospital in shock and also suffered mental harm. In a recorded police interview, Ramchen made full admissions to the first attack. "I mentally snapped, and my blood just went to my head, and I just became incredibly angry and emotional, incredibly, unbelievably angry," he told police. When asked about his intentions, Ramchen replied: "Nothing, just incapacitate the principal." "I was acting on impulse," he said.
Ramchen claimed limited memory of the second attack, stating he did not have a specific recollection of the second incident and did not remember going back. Pressed for an explanation, he again told police he was simply 'angry'. "I can't offer any explanation except for incredibly, violently, emotional, and angry," he said. His barrister, Amelia Beech, told the court that Ramchen's assault had been spontaneous and not premeditated. "The offending itself really is in the context of a fair significant mental health crisis. a fairly significant, perhaps in understatement. A catastrophic mental health crisis, for which there is expert evidence," she said. "It's really a situation where there is this catastrophic mental health crisis and an impulsive action is taken by my client."
She claimed her client suffered from a range of long-standing mental health issues, which ought earn him a discount on his sentence. "What we say, your honour, is that releasing him on a community corrections order is going to be the best way to protect the community in the long term," she said. "He is simply not going to improve in the custodial environment as he needs psychiatric care, psychological care, and support, and that can all be provided on a community corrections order with the overlay of supervision." Ms Beech emphasised that while there would be no excuses for her client's conduct, there was a 'powerful explanation'. This included Ramchen's tragic and dysfunctional childhood, adulthood challenges, stressful parenthood, and undiagnosed significant mental ill health.
She told the court Ramchen had since lost his career, marriage, relationship with his child, reputation, and financial security due to the offending and publicity. "It will ultimately be submitted, your honour, that a combination sentence of some jail time, which would allow Mr Ramchen to be released as soon as possible on a community corrections order is appropriate in the circumstances," Ms Beech said. The Crown argued Ramchen did not have any remorse for what he did and claimed that would hamper his rehabilitation. Mr Jassar argued Ramchen, who has already served five months in jail, needed to spend more time behind bars before being released on any community order.
Police had initially charged Ramchen with multiple offences, including recklessly endangering life, intentionally causing injury, two counts of unlawful assault, and assault with a weapon. Ramchen's mother was former The Price is Right host Jacqueline Ramchen. She has not been seen since she dropped her three children off at school on April 10, 1992. Their father Slavik Ramchen was later charged with her murder, but walked free in 2002 after a magistrate found there was a possibility she might actually still be alive. Former Victoria Police detective Charlie Bezzina told Daily Mail he believed Slavik was a cold-blooded killer. "So we get your garden variety, domestic murder, that he got away with," he said following Ramchen's arrest. "And you know, unfortunately, it'll remain unsolved because the offender's dead." Mr Bezzina had been tasked with bringing Slavik to justice. His efforts were thwarted by a magistrate before the case was put before a jury, with Slavik dying from cancer six months later without spending a single day behind bars.
With no body, no DNA and no smoking gun, Mr Bezzina believed he had built a circumstantial case against Slavik strong enough to be tested by a jury. Mr Bezzina said there was no way on earth Mrs Ramchen would abandon her children and parents to run off with another man. "From that weekend (she vanished) onwards there has been absolutely no contact. What person would do that being so close to their mother?" Mr Bezzina said. "We had a lady that was very, very close to her mother and would contact her on a daily basis. She had two toddlers, Kim being one of them, of course, and Lev was the eldest. It was absolutely devastating to her parents who died without any closure." Mr Bezzina said Mrs Ramchen's killer would never be brought to justice, because he was already dead. "If we don't get a conviction it remains unsolved, but I know full well, because of my experience, he's good for it," he said. Ramchen will be sentenced on Monday.
