An aggrieved parent has opened a case of common assault, crimen injuria and harassment against pupils involved in a bullying incident against her son.
The woman first reported the matter to Trinity House Glenvista on the evening of February 12, after her son, a grade 4 pupil at the school in southern Joburg, was bullied by other pupils.
She opened the case after the school failed to punish the pupils for bullying her son. The incident has affected her son so badly that he afterwards cut off his hair in the classroom. And when asked by his teacher, he said he did so because he thought his classmates had asked him to cut it off.
According to an internal document compiled by the school, a grade 7 pupil first noticed a soiled underwear on the windowsill of the bathroom and then proceeded to knock on the stall door. He was met with inappropriate language from the grade 4 pupil but went on to kick the stall door several times. At one point, the door opened and made physical contact with the grade 7 pupil.
The pupil then called grade five pupils to witness the incident by showing them the underwear. One of the pupils joined in by kicking the stall door, encouraging further reactions from the victim. The group then moved outside, where one of the boys climbed onto a bench to open the window and peep inside the bathroom stall, and another attempted to do the same but was unsuccessful.
Two prefects were informed about what had transpired and they interacted with the grade four pupil inside the bathroom.
All this information was confirmed by the school’s camera footage, which shows what transpired outside the toilet.
The mother then started looking for her son when she noticed he was not with other pupils who were part of the swimming class. She was then informed about a boy who had been crying in the bathroom.
She found him in a bathroom stalls “extremely distressed”, and upon inspecting his clothing realised that his uniform was covered in excrement.
She proceeded to help him clean the mess and then reported the incident to a teacher as well as the swimming coach.
The school disciplinary office (SDO) met with the -offenders’ parents to emphasise the severity of the incident and inform them of the sanctions.
While the disciplinary process was underway, two of the boys involved in the matter approached the grade 4 pupil and his uncle to apologise.
This was completely against strict instructions to not discuss the matter with anyone besides the SDO and their parents.
The offenders were issued with “stern reprimands”, but no punishment was meted out against them.
All three offenders disclosed that they had laughed at the grade four pupil, kicked the bathroom door and attempted to climb on the bench to look inside the bathroom stall.
The grade seven boy attended a session with the school counsellor to discuss his behaviour during the incident and what a better, appropriate behaviour should be with a situation like this in the future. The parents of the grade 5 pupils did not take up the in-house counselling.
The school offered counselling to the grade 4 pupil twice but he declined as he had been sent to therapy.
Sunday World could not reach the Trinity House Glenvista for comment.
