Anyone get bullied at school.....
 

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!

[B] 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[/B] (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 :D

This infuriates me. He sits in a blackened room all day, because he got hit a few times when he was 6-7?

All those years after the age of 7, and he couldnt get over it? Everyone got teased in some way in school, and I'm sure we all had our fair share of fights...but 99.99% of us are fine!

He needs to get off his arse, switch off his PC and stop batting off to porn and playing WoW, and get a real fucking job. It really does seem like people over dramatise events such as this, just to gain sympathy and in this case, get some money.

heard this on the radio this morning....wippa from 92.9 almost blurted to open a "can of toughen the Fcuk Up" hahaha funny....

but on a more serious note bullying should not attract legal intervention just good ol Violence...fuk em up!!!

Due to being called a 'nerd' and a 'geek' all my life at school, I now have to spend most of my days trapped in a small dimly lit room with my PC.

Since I was taunted as a young child at school, I can no longer talk to women in real life and must look up internet porn.

I must also sit at my desk as a keyboard warrior on many forums, so I can exact revenge on all these 'bullies' who have hurt me in the past.

Because of this I now require $1 billion dollars compensation from the Education Department. This money will help put a new light in my computer room and purchase a 8800GTX video card to load my porn faster, thus making me a happier man.

Reckon that will work? :D

That fat fucking retard needs to harden the fuck up! Fatty Boomba Nancy Girl four-eyed sissy!!

Its true you know, there was this one fucker in year 9 who gave me a really hard time (chubby, short kids (ie me) cop it hard at high school ) but a bit of strength, a growth spurt later and a serious punch on tends to put them in the place MUCH better than a teacher ever will.

Its the only answer and as Joe will tell u (dating a primary school teacher and all) teachers cant do SFA these days.

[QUOTE=BALISTC]This infuriates me. He sits in a blackened room all day, because he got hit a few times when he was 6-7?

All those years after the age of 7, and he couldnt get over it? Everyone got teased in some way in school, and I'm sure we all had our fair share of fights...but 99.99% of us are fine!

He needs to get off his arse, switch off his PC and stop batting off to porn and playing WoW, and get a real fucking job. It really does seem like people over dramatise events such as this, just to gain sympathy and in this case, get some money.[/QUOTE]

couldnt have said it better

[QUOTE=Mat]Its the only answer and as Joe will tell u (dating a primary school teacher and all) teachers cant do SFA these days.[/QUOTE]

You're right, teachers cant do anything in regards to physically stopping bullying, unless they see it happen on the spot (which most of the time they wouldnt). In that case, it would go to the principal, but it still doesnt stop it from happening at a later date or outside of school. Any physical intervention apart from literally pulling two fighting kids apart, is of course, a good way to land themselves in hot water, because you cant lay a finger on a child for almost any reason.

Its also very difficult if they dont see it, because most kids will not tell the teachers whats happening...but some teachers can pick it up in the kids behaviour.

You're also right about doing it back to them. One thing that Mandee used to do when she was teaching pre primary, was if a kid was constantly biting or hitting another kid, she would encourage the victim to do it back to them. It used to stop pretty quickly after the kid retaliated with the teachers permission!!!

In Chicago, some girl is suing her school for half a mil because the teacher showed Brokeback Mountain in class. She claims it has given her psychological scarring and is suing the school with her Grandmother.

Only in America.

i used to get bullied (i was 3' tall, in year 11!)
then i did more weights and shit at gym.
i'm still only 4' tall but im 4' wide now too.

I reckon his parents are partially at fault...he is 18 or 19 right? if he was bullied when 6 or 7 wtf did they do for 10/11/12 years?? They simply let him sit in his room and playing on the computer and talk to virtual friends....etc. Buy him a footy/soccer ball/cricket bat and his dad should take him outside and spend some time with his kid for fuck sakes.

Now all of us tax payers have to pay him for his parents mistakes. It's true he was bullied etc but all of us have at some stage. I grew up to be a normal person...well i hope so anyway :D

Personally I think teachers should be able to physically punish kids in some circumstances...

[QUOTE=jEstEr?]i'm still only 4' tall but im 4' wide now too.[/QUOTE]

Heh, choad.

[QUOTE=jEstEr?]i used to get bullied (i was 3' tall, in year 11!)
then i did more weights and shit at gym.
i'm still only 4' tall but im 4' wide now too.[/QUOTE]
A perfect square :D

I never got teased at school. I was never allowed to go. I got chained
to my chair at home when I was 9. For my 16th birthday I got a PC
and now I hang around perth-wrx all day.

ill gladly buy him a carton of export, to help him toughen the fuck up

i have to say i'm with you joe. how come now days the way someone turns out is always someone elses fault. and why is it all of a sudden ok once they get offered a payout. i'm so sick to death of this crap. i'm tired of turning on the tv or radio and hearing how someone got a payout cause they were bullied at school or coz they ate macdonalds for breakfast, lunch and tea. its about time people start taking responsibility for how there life have turned out instead of blaming other. it use to be true that there was no such thing as free lunch. but things are starting to change. thats why you and me and everyone else, that are happy to get off there arse and actually go out and work, have to keep paying higher and higher prices for everything to cover the expenses of these people. sorry all but it does give me the absolute sh#ts. well thats my rant.

Have you kids seen him? Christ I would have poured shit on him at school too. Grossly overweight and lets be honest about his hair colour. It is not black and it is not blonde. Looks like he ran flat out through the fly wire door. He was certainly underneath the fan when the shit hit it.

This kid does not need a can of harden up he needs a whole refinery of it.

Na I'm all for it.. the school had a responsibility so fair enough they cop it.

I was picked on as a kid (yup I wasn't always the beef cake I am today).. and we’re not just talking about kids stealing your hat at recess or calling you names. I'm talking about proper harassment, when I was about 10/11 (yr 5ish). I had a kid a year younger single me out as a weaker kid.

He had a brother that was a year older then me, also a bully, so him and his mates also use to get in on it. I got punched in the face, pushed to the ground.. generally humiliated pretty much weekly. He followed me home (we lived close by) every day for about two years (I eventually moved to high school)

People on here are saying why not step up to em, like in the movies where you give em an ass whipping and you earn their respect. Well in reality if you pull any shit like that his older brother would have smacked my head in. I use to think about running up and grabbing his throat.. you know really go columbine on him. But if I did I'd have someone bigger and much scarier on my case.

Why didn’t I do anything about it? Well I did say something once and my mum went round there and spoke to his parents. But his parents didn’t give a shit so yeah I'm all for this 'Schools responsibility'. Back then if I knew the school had the power to expel him then I would have spoken up.

Looking back now you think ehh it’s all part of growing up. But reality is two years of my life was made hell cuz some piece of shit didn’t get breast fed enough as a kid.

If my kid ever had a bully I think I'd smack the shit out of the prick myself. I guess my point is sure this kid might be milking it and is a bit of a freak. But if the school didn't act on it they deserve everything they get.

I'm with STI TUNED and BALLISTIC. I have been a bully and have been subjected to bullying.

I stopped bullying cos i realised i was a worthless piece of shit for doing it (i played up to peer pressure cos i had low self esteem) and i stopped BEING bullied cos i stood up to em, got my head smacked in, stood up to em, got my head smacked in...so on and so forth until i started boxing and carrying a blade and no cnut tried it again.

I dont agreed with weapons but i do agree with liability if teachers are aware and dont involve the police.

Send that kid to me and i'll have him fit, nasty and confident in 6 months (at a high price..hehe)

For those people who said, "He needs a can of harden the fuck up"

Not everybody is as strong as you. Just because you have the will to punch someone back because you were bullied doesn't mean everyone can do the same.

[B][I]For those who weren't strong enough[/I][/B]

[B]The following is a list of people who have committed suicide after being victims of bullying.[/B]


Curtis Taylor, 14, committed suicide on 22 March 1993, when he went into his bedroom and shot himself in the head after three years of bullying.


Jared High, 13, was brutally assaulted by a known schoolyard bully. After he and the bully were both suspended, he became depressed, and eventually committed suicide in September 1998.


Dawn-Marie Wesley, 14, took her own life in Mission, British Columbia, Canada, 10 November 2000, leaving behind a note to her familiy that referred to the bullying to which she had been subjected:

"[I]If I try to get help, it will get worse. They are always looking for a new person to beat up and they are the toughest girls. If I ratted, they would get suspended and there would be no stopping them. I love you all so much[/I]."


Jokin Ceberio, 14, jumped from the highest point of the small fortified town of Hondarribia (Basque Country, Spain), on September 21, 2004. He became depressed a few days after the beginning of term, refusing to attend to school because he was suffering bullying from his classmates. He decided to commit suicide rather than return to his school.


Nathan Jones, 12, hanged himself on 7 April 2005. Fellow students at his school in Romford blame bullies for his death.


Ryan Halligan, 13, committed suicide, as a result of bullying:

"[I]Ryan Halligan hung himself after prolonged bullying at school and at home through the Internet. He was repeatedly taunted online. Due to the continued bullying, Ryan latched on to the idea of killing himself as vengeance against those who had hurt him[/I]."


A schoolboy, 14, hung himself in Honjo, Saitama Prefecture, on 12 November 2006, following an incident of extortion.


[B][U]The following is a list of victims who were killed by bullies.[/U][/B]

Reena Virk, 14, was brutally beaten and then drowned in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on 14 November 1997 after years of bullying. On 12 April 2005, Kelly Ellard was found guilty of second degree murder causing Reena's death.


[B][U]The following is a list of other bully-related deaths.[/U][/B]

Ben Adams, 14, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was pushed to the ground by a bully. He lost consciousness due to a preexisting condition (neurofibromatosis) and died in hospital on 22 February 1991. In response, his mother, Hetty van Gurp founded Peaceful Schools International, an international organization to end violence and bullying in schools.

good examples, but... were they all gingers?

i think he deerves it. bullying is fucked - i have played bully at school with mates and u feel like shit afterwoods but u did it coz u wanted to be a sikcunt.

There was this one kid called michael syme that always got picked on by everyone. I genuinely think about him and wonder what hes up to at times, i also wonder if hes got a hit list and gun... and my name on it haha...
but seriously - the kid was traumatized, if u lifted ur arm up quickly near him he would flinch thinking that ur gona hit him.
I can only imagine now the type of mental scaring hes endured, and feel sorry fuking for him. and wouldnt mind cathcin up with him if hes still around...

Sucked in to the Government for not doing anything, hope he gets more than $1m. Seems like a few posters in this thread have some unresolved issues

[QUOTE=STi Tuned]Na I'm all for it.. the school had a responsibility so fair enough they cop it.

I was picked on as a kid (yup I wasn't always the beef cake I am today).. and we’re not just talking about kids stealing your hat at recess or calling you names. I'm talking about proper harassment, when I was about 10/11 (yr 5ish). I had a kid a year younger single me out as a weaker kid.

He had a brother that was a year older then me, also a bully, so him and his mates also use to get in on it. I got punched in the face, pushed to the ground.. generally humiliated pretty much weekly. He followed me home (we lived close by) every day for about two years (I eventually moved to high school)

People on here are saying why not step up to em, like in the movies where you give em an ass whipping and you earn their respect. Well in reality if you pull any shit like that his older brother would have smacked my head in. I use to think about running up and grabbing his throat.. you know really go columbine on him. But if I did I'd have someone bigger and much scarier on my case.

Why didn’t I do anything about it? Well I did say something once and my mum went round there and spoke to his parents. But his parents didn’t give a shit so yeah I'm all for this 'Schools responsibility'. Back then if I knew the school had the power to expel him then I would have spoken up.

Looking back now you think ehh it’s all part of growing up. But reality is two years of my life was made hell cuz some piece of shit didn’t get breast fed enough as a kid.

If my kid ever had a bully I think I'd smack the shit out of the prick myself. I guess my point is sure this kid might be milking it and is a bit of a freak. But if the school didn't act on it they deserve everything they get.[/QUOTE]

so i really dont get where its the school responsibilty??? shouldn't it be the parents responsibility??? so if your parents take you to maccas everyday to feed you and you turn out a big fat pig then is it macdonalds fault or your parents??? so who do i sue my parents or macdonalds??? coz in the end it just comes down to some getting sue to make it right. so how does giving someone a million dollars solve the problem??? if i was the judge i would be telling you to get some counselling or go on a diet. but they dont want to hear that. all they want is to see the $$$$$ signs. if people weren't getting payouts then you would never see or hear any of this. its bullshit. i protected my little brother all through high school and trust me it was no walk in the park for me either. but he still turned out bad. so you tell me.....how do you solve the problem. there will always be problem children and thats that. always something....not enough time on the breast, my parents favoured the youngest or oldest the most...they didn't love me enough boo hoo. so now i have to sue my parents. what is this world coming to!!!!!!! or maybe i'm just rambling.....sorry i'm just sick of it. dont you think the problem is bad enough with a shortage of teachers. i know i wouldn't want to be 1 now days. everybody's suing everybody. friends against friends, families against families. you see

[QUOTE=AC Schnitzer]For those people who said, "He needs a can of harden the fuck up"

Not everybody is as strong as you. Just because you have the will to punch someone back because you were bullied doesn't mean everyone can do the same.

[/QUOTE]


back in my day we had "teachers" at our schools

Back in my day we also had the cane.

im studying to be a teacher (phys ed) at uni atm, and im on prac at a high school known for being rough. i can say for certain that kids there are always getting picked on, and as was said, teachers can basically do sweet FA. the majority of what goes on is away from prying eyes.

although it would be hard for you to come forward and either confront the person/s bullying you or tell someone about the situation due to the possible consequences, surely the education dept is not totally to blame here....part of the reason that this guy has problems is that HE did nothing about the promlem. sure he told one teacher, and that particular teachers response was the definate wrong answer to the situation, but how many teachers are there at a primary school??? 20 or so. we do whole units on this sort of stuff, and the number of people that kids can talk to about this sort of stuff...well there aremore then enough people

this case is going to open up a whole new breed of soft co(ks who feel because someone pushed them or called them a fag at school, they have the right to claim compensation.....how soft are people getting!?!

as chopper would say
"hhhh-harden the fu(k up Australia"

All these 'bullies'. Is the number of bullies per school rising? If so I may have inadvertantly stumbled on a correlation with the rise of 'EMO's'.

Apparently the mother has had phycological issues / treatment aswell. Father has not copped a mention so he probably cottoned on to what the mother was like and cleared out.

I am not a fan of violence at all and in my entire time at school I got into 1 fight (with a guy that was being a bully) but you always gave as good as you got. At the end of it the bully respects the kid that stands up to him.

This kid has come out and said he can never work / get a root / study etc. What is he going to do when he has finished spending his mill on broadband and maccas.

I work in construction. If I took on everytime someone called me a cnut I would be owed plenty. You call him one back sort out the issue and get on with life.

If it was so bad and the school resolutely refused to do anything why did she not at least try and send him to another school? I'll tell you why.....it is far easier to be a victim than get off your ass and do something about it.

If he lost some weight he could go full emo spec. Just remember son when you cut your arm it is down the road (elbow to wrist) not accross the street (wrist to wrist).

[QUOTE=ndfourspd]so i really dont get… [/QUOTE]

Hey ok.. first off paragraphs my friend, we need more paragraphs.

Second I dunno if this Macca’s/fast food analogy is the same? I gave you an example where parents have spoken to the parents of a bully and that’s just aggravated the situation. Your analogy is kinda like the parents dropping the kid off at the bully’s house after school. So yeah that would be the parents fault… but as you can see that isn’t really what were talking about.

[QUOTE]so how does giving someone a million dollars solve the problem??? [/QUOTE]
This one you answered yourself here….
[QUOTE]if people weren't getting payouts then you would never see or hear any of this [/QUOTE]

You know here at Telstra we had to do a two hr online course in bullying for EEO (equal employment opportunities). At 28 years of age I’m getting taught how to identify bullies, what to do if I’m subject to bullying, what constitutes bullying… the kinda stuff would have been good about 18 years earlier.

Were all in agreeance that the amounts out of whack, but shit like this brings attention to it so whatever.. good on him. If my kid had a teacher that responded like that and I thought that the systems in place were negligent for something that’s hardly a new issue. Then Fark yeah I’d go for a mil as well.

[QUOTE=tuna]good examples, but... were they all gingers?[/QUOTE]

lmao

I saw the parents and sister being interviewed on one of those morning news show things this morning... so the Mum and DAd are still in the picture...

I would say that to a certain extent the school has responsibility - ESPECIALLY if the problem has been reported to them and they are aware of it.. for them to have said "bullying is character building" is outrageous.. obviously it was many years ago.. but fuck ! I think if they are made aware of the problem its their responsibility to keep and eye on the bully.. and to take disciplinary action if necessary... detention/suspension/ expelling the kid.
But also yes.. the parents need to take responsibility too. why would you leave your kid in a school for so long if he was being bullied so badly.. if I wasnt having any luck getting the school to deal with the problem.. pull the fucking kid out of school BEFORE he gets strangled ! not after !

i can understand that the kid would be fucked up... some ppl are more sensitive than others.. and as someone pointed out earlier.. not everyone has the balls to go hit the bully.. and sometimes that could make the situation worse not better.

I got teased mercilessly in high school for having no boobs ! (go figure lol) .. my nickname ended up being surfboard ! went home from school crying n shit.. but high school ended.. boobs sprouted overnight and hey presto I was over it.. but not everyone can bounce back so well. and now its oh so fun to run into those fuckers these days!!! NOW LOOK AT MY SURFBOARD CHEST FUCKHEADS !! hahah

-my 4cents
Tara

Either way but hes still a fat whingey cunt!

Years of bullying should have given him the appropriate motivation to lose weight but nooooo, he keeps on eating and getting fatter

Then blames other people that he was to glutinous and piggish that he couldnt stop eating the crap, Fat bitch!

[QUOTE=WRP10]Either way but hes still a fat whingey cunt!

Years of bullying should have given him the appropriate motivation to lose weight but nooooo, he keeps on eating and getting fatter

Then blames other people that he was to glutinous and piggish that he couldnt stop eating the crap, Fat bitch![/QUOTE]


adam r u serious with that coment.. U prolly dont even know the half of what happened to this kid. Poor bloke imo from what we heard from the news programs is that in yr 1 and 2 when ur of 5-6yrs old he was made to eat his own jumper and strangled until he lost consciousness, got his front teeth knocked out. Who knows what else happened. If shit like that dosent scar u at that age then ur a farken jet...

i could never imagine wot goes through the head of someone that gets picked on. I fortunetly was never on that side of the fence. I bet if someone constantly picked on u at that age u would be a different person today.

the fatty boom ba should have just found someone weaker than himself and bullied them. then he would feel better about himself and less depressed.

If you get bullied, first you scream out "I'm a Heamophilliac". Then when he turns around in disgust, it's time to kick some back! :p (Homer J Simpson)

It's a pretty interesting topic really..

This thread kinda shows that most people don't have a grasp on what bullying really is. It's not just missing out on playing kiss chasse or getting called names. It's constant harassment.. I mean now they have cyber bullying with SMS and MSN. Fark me.

I’m pretty normal.. but I still clearly remember sitting in my room with this disused light switch. I use to flick it pretending it was the detonator of a bomb blowing up the kids house, I did that a lot. Luckily the only impressions it left on me is I farken can’t stand mob mentality and I’m passionate about sticking up for friends.

But what I endured is nothing compared to this kid. I come from a 2.5 family and had a really fortunate upbringing but you can see why these school yard shootings are getting more frequent. And given the alternative I think it’s better the kid sues for a mill rather then head into school with a glock.

......

Back in my day, if you whacked some kid at school, the teachers would whack you back twice as hard with a pointer, chalk, broom stick, belts, javelin, discus, 4B2, etc, etc...

It all went down hill after they banned all that shit.

The ole' "Skips vs The Wogs" School Yard Battles were unreal - quality abuse, put downs, bashings....loved it (even when I copped it).

Sure a few people came out scarred for life, but hey, where else would you recruit EMO's from?

[QUOTE=Alex]
I had my shoes stolen from infront of my house and watched them wear it to my graduation. [/QUOTE]

Interesting. I have been very lucky with my family etc but I think that if that had happened to me I would have thought more fool them. I too had a pair of brand new sneakers stolen from school and school could not have cared less. You go and buy a new pair and move on. If he thinks it makes him stronger by stealing someones stuff then good on him. I have a great home to go to.

As for this other kid if someone is constantly getting stuck into you, you have a couple of options. Sit there and take it (and evidently eat), move to another school or trim down, pour in some just for men and start associating with a different group of people.

I still hold my argument that this kids has taken the easy way out the whole way. If he stood up to himself and said struth, maybe if I lost 50k and started running around the footy field and joined in with these kids rather than sit in the corner and eat I might not get bullied he would be better off.

The black american politician Colin Powell was talking about the american blacks and he called it 'victimhood' where it was a lot easier to whinge about being 'disadvantaged' than actually get off your ass and do something.