Teenager "viciously assaulted" in Waterford

Sully

Waterford News & Star wrote:

Video bully
By Deirdre Dalton

THE mother of a 13-year-old Waterford city teenager, who was viciously assaulted by another girl while the ordeal was recorded on camera, is calling for stricter laws to deal with such attacks.

The disturbing footage of the incident, which happened last week just off Paddy Brown’s Road, shows the young girl, who is a first year student, being cornered by a teenager two years older.

“I can’t stop crying every time I see the video. It was like she was being beaten by a feral animal,” explained the emotional Waterford city woman.

During her ordeal, which lasted a number of minutes, a group of youths order her to dance and she can be seen looking very frightened with her back to a wall.

She turns to say something to her friend, as she does so, she is caught by the hair and pulled to the ground.

As she puts her hand to her head to try and protect herself, blow after blow rain down on her face with closed fists, as a second youth catches it on camera using a mobile phone.

Despite being pulled off twice, her attacker goes back for more, while threatening the girl that she will kill her.

The teenager has been unable to watch the footage and has become quite withdrawn as a result of what happened. It has since been sent to a number of students in secondary schools in Waterford, but it is unknown how many people have seen it.

The unprovoked attack took place in broad daylight, at 7pm last Monday. She was brought to WRH by her mother, where she had x-rays carried out was treated for a black eye and extensive bruising to her face.

“What’s the incentive to bring your child up right, if this is what happens to them,” said the frustrated woman.

Although the Mercy convent student responsible for the attack has been spoken to by gardai, the victim’s mother believes there will be no further repercussions for her actions.

“I’ve been told by the gardai and a solicitor that because the girl who did it is minor, there’s not much they can do, she might just be cautioned,” explained the distraught girl’s mother.

“Has she any idea how serious what she did is?” asked the 32-year-old.

However a senior garda has said the matter will be investigated fully.

The attack came after what the child’s mother believes is a year and half of bullying and intimidation over the internet.

“She has received messages on MSN telling her that if she went down town she’d be dead and that they would hit her even if I was with her,” explained the woman.

Vice principal of the Mercy convent, Eugene Broderick, has said the school is horrified by the severity of the attack and are taking the matter very seriously.

“We deplore what happened, we have spoken to the girl and her family and we are dealing with the matter,” explained Mr. Broderick.

Although there have been a number of occurrences of bullying through the use of mobile phones at the school, according to Mr. Broderick, this is first one at this severity.

The victim’s mother is now left fearing what the long term psychological affects will be her daughter.

“I did notice that she had become more moody recently but I was putting it down to hormones and her being a teenager,” she said.

In the months leading up to the attack, the girl who is the oldest of two, was complaining of pains in her stomach and head. She was also reluctant to go outside on her own or to school. It is only now that it makes sense to her mother.

In an effort to protect her daughter from any further abuse, the mother-of-two has taken away her computer.

Source: Waterford News & Star

Was reading this the other day and have to say I was left dumbfounded by the whole thing. I cant get over that it seemed to be done in a busy location (Paddy Browns) in the middle of the day, and nobody did anything to stop it. Not even her friends! Shocked that bullying has gone to such a state, and that the victim is recorded on camera for the video to be passed about the school to make it even more humiliating for the girl. And to top it all of, the Guards hands are tied because they are minors!

I think its time the government drafted in new laws. Crime is getting out of hand, and people are getting away with it far to easy. Just because your a minor does not mean you should be allowed assault, bully and humiliate others. For **** sake, they are KIDS!

Absolutely disgusting. I hope the bullies get what they deserve sooner or later. I hope the girl that is bullied is able to grow confident and move on. Its going to be hard, but my thoughts go out to her. This kind of behaviour is not on.

rohe

I read the article and seen the pics on the newspaper and I have to say I was disgusted with the whole thing, you would think that some member of the public would have seen what was going on, but it seems people prefer to turn the other way because of fear of reprecusions with these people

I wonder is the parents of the girl responsible for the attack are proud of her!!!!

my thoughts are with the poor kid, shocking behaviour

jhegarty

If anyone got involved they would have ended up in front a judge themselves...

mike65

If the cops can't act then the school has to but they won't I bet. They can't even be named and shamed officially though no doubt the identities of all concerned is freely known in the area.

Mike.

rohe

jhegarty wrote: »

If anyone got involved they would have ended up in front a judge themselves...

I dont ean physically get involved, i wouldnt lower myself to that girls level, but its very easy to pick up a phone and call the guards

fozzle

mike65 wrote: »

If the cops can't act then the school has to but they won't I bet. They can't even be named and shamed officially though no doubt the identities of all concerned is freely known in the area.

Mike.

To be fair, there's not a whole lot the school can do if it happened off school property. They can certainly try to discipline the girl over any bullying at school, but once the kids walk out those gates the school aren't suposed to get involved.

It really is a horrible case though. Laws definately need tightening, and the whole method of dealing with minors needs to be looked at. It appears there aren't much in the way of facilities for dealing with them - fine, develop them! God knows we need them.

kryogen

its a disgrace. this type of behaviour is not as uncommon as we would like to think and bullying is getting worse in schools from what i know. stricter laws need to be introduced to deal with this type of thing, violence breeds violence and the psychological implications for the poor child are not worth thinking about considering she is aware that half the town has seen this video on their phone now. she may become totally withdrawn. i really hope that isnt the case and her family and friends can rally around her and support her emotionally as she has absolutely nothing to be embarrased or ashamed about.

kmart6

fozzle wrote: »

To be fair, there's not a whole lot the school can do if it happened off school property. They can certainly try to discipline the girl over any bullying at school, but once the kids walk out those gates the school aren't suposed to get involved.

If the incident involved 2 students from the same school,the school has the right to get involved and take the correct disciplinery steps!

KTRIC

kmart6 wrote: »

If the incident involved 2 students from the same school,the school has the right to get involved and take the correct disciplinery steps!

No it doesn't. If it didn't take place on school property during school time then they have absolutely no right to intervene.

A so called friend of mine when I was younger accused me of assaulting him when we were finished school one day and made up this far fetched story that I pushed him in front of a bus. This never happened but he and his parents tried to bring this up with the school authorities and have me disciplined.

They were told to f-off as it wasn't the schools problem.

Sully

I have heard schools taking the stance that if your wearing the school uniform then they will take action. Its happened in my old school - students caused trouble in some shops during lunch hour and were caught on CCTV. They were known to be students from the school as they were wearing their uniform. They were disciplined.

I also believe that colleges will take action if any of their students are invovled in crime. I recall a threatning letter from the college to every student house in an estate in Waterford that is causing grief for other residents. I think it was said again in the News & Star this week also..

Cabaal

I'll never understand why these retards record themselfs commiting crimes, its proof that can be used against you you ****en gob****es, I figure since their minors fine their parents 1K each....parents won't be long sorting out their kids then

kmart6

KTRIC wrote:

No it doesn't. If it didn't take place on school property during school time then they have absolutely no right to intervene.

Well as Sully pointed out if your in a uniform they can as your seen as a representitive of the school. Also if eiter of the students involved was to say the incident outside of school arised due to something that happened in the school they do have the right to get involved!

Sully wrote:

I recall a threatning letter from the college to every student house in an estate in Waterford that is causing grief for other residents.

Ah I remember that too,won't mention the estate just in case, but thought it was a bit unfair to send all students letters, if they were going to get involved they coulda done a proper job and investigated it....seemed very half hearted IMO!