This kid did and now gets a nice million bucks..



THE NSW Department of Education and Training is considering an appeal after a court ordered it to pay damages, which could amount to $1 million, to a boy bullied at primary school.

A department spokesman said lawyers were reading today's judgment to see if there were grounds for an appeal.

Justice Carolyn Simpson concluded the primary school had "grossly failed" in its duty of care to Benjamin Cox, who now suffers from a severe psychiatric condition.

Mr Cox, now 18, was aged six and seven when he was regularly bullied by an older, disturbed pupil at Woodberry Public School, near Maitland in the NSW Hunter Valley.

He sued the NSW Government over the bullying.

The judge found the school's responses to repeated complaints by his mother, Angela Cox, were "dismally inadequate".

"His adolescence has been all but destroyed; his adulthood will not be any better," the judge said in the NSW Supreme Court.

"He will never know the satisfaction of employment. He will suffer anxiety and depression, almost certainly, for the rest of his life. He is unlikely to form any relationships, romantic or platonic. He has no friends and is unlikely to make any," she said.

While the exact amount of damages has not yet been calculated, Mr Cox's legal team expected it to be around $1 million, thought to be a record in a school bullying case.

Today's case coincided with a federal government move today to give teachers and principals more power to deal with schoolyard bullying and give parents more information about discipline, bullying and poor behaviour.

Mr Cox's case may also open the way for substantial damages awards for other bullying victims, lawyers said.

Mrs Cox gave evidence of her son becoming "absolutely petrified" of going to school, particularly after his tormentor tried to strangle him in February 1995.

When she complained about the school's inaction, she said a Department of Education officer told her "bullying builds character".

Her son continued to have nightmares and headaches, cried all the time and developed a severe stutter.

The little boy refused to use public toilets after telling his mother the older pupil jumped out from buildings - including the school toilets - and scared him.

Once she was called to the school office to find her son crying, with a lower tooth missing and a bleeding lip.

He told her the older boy had "tried to shove his jumper down his throat".

Justice Simpson accepted Mr Cox was subjected to "harassment, bullying and assault" at the hands of the other boy.

She also accepted that Mrs Cox made repeated attempts to have the school authorities intervene and control the conduct of the other boy.

"The staff made no attempt to deal with a serious problem", the judge said.

"The school authorities responded quite inadequately to an escalating problem and failed to take such steps as were reasonably required to protect (Benjamin) from the conduct of a plainly behaviourally disturbed older pupil."

When Mrs Cox took her son out of the school in September 1995, she told the principal she was not going to submit him to any more bullying or hurting.

She said the principal told her: "You lose some kids and keep some".

Justice Simpson accepted psychiatric evidence that Benjamin had been a "very vulnerable" boy, having a genetic predisposition to depression or other such conditions.

But she also accepted that the bullying was the initiating factor which led to his current condition - variously described as separation anxiety disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The Education Department spokesman said bullying was "not acceptable then" and is "not acceptable now" and measures had been introduced in the 13 years since the incident.

"We have been strengthening the ability of schools to deal with bullying issues," he said.

Ok now i reckon a lot of people were bullied (including me cause i was a bit chubby- nothings changed ) at school but fanta pants reckon he cant work, make friends, has to sit in a blackened room all day. Harden up princess. Die your hair, stop eating junk food and make some friends!

I know bullying is a serious problem in schools today and my advice to all kids is to ignore the teachers and FIGHT back against em. These cowards will soon learn to show some more respect (Trust me it works VERY well if you smack a bully out. Problem is i got suspended twice as a result but it worked FAR better than dobbin on em. Stupid deputy principal bitch at duncraig...) but to go this far claiming he cant go outside and work is a bit full on i think.

WTF is wrong with the world. On another note, I might sue KFC for helping me stay chubby