A Canberra mother and daughter are suing the ACT education department after alleging that the girl was brutally bullied by a group of teenagers at one of the city's public high schools.
Papers lodged in the ACT Supreme Court allege that the victim was physically and sexually assaulted by the group during a four-month period in 2006, with the abuse filmed on mobile phones and distributed on the internet. It is also alleged that school authorities failed to control the group, despite their running wild at the school for at least a year before the attacks, terrorising students and even assaulting and intimidating teachers.
According to lawyers for the girl and her mother, six individual members of the group of students were identified by the school as being involved in at least 17 separate incidents involving sexual harassment, violence or intimidation, mostly against younger students. The plaintiffs, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have both launched court action against the territory, arguing that the school knew or should have known that students were at risk from the group and that authorities failed to protect the children in their care.
The mother is seeking unspecified damages from the ACT government, saying that she sustained ''mental harm'' and continues to suffer.
Even after the alleged physical attacks had stopped in May 2006, lawyers assert, the child's suffering is said to have continued, with her alleged tormenters distributing photos and footage of the assaults by text message, email and postings on websites.
''As a result of the acts and the continuing bullying conduct, the child has suffered mental and physical harm including severe depression, suicidal ideation, several suicide attempts and self-mutilation,'' the statement of claim reads. But lawyers for the government say that any acts performed by other students towards the plaintiff's child ''were performed illegally, clandestinely and without the actual or constructive knowledge of the territory.''
The defence also asserts that the school had no knowledge that particular students were likely to pose a risk to other children at the school.
The case could set a landmark in the territory because of the women's claim that the school failed to anticipate that mobile phones, which were known to be in the possession of the group, would be used to inflict psychological harm on a child.
The mother's claim that the school authorities had a duty of care to prevent her from suffering ''mental harm,'' is also one that could spawn many similar cases if it proves successful.
The allegations by the plaintiff lawyers, Blumers, paint a frightening picture of life at the school, which cannot be identified, in 2005 and 2006 citing ''insubordination, uncontrollable behaviour, verbal abuse, harassment, sexual harassment, threatening, confronting and violent behaviour, verbal threats, property damage and physical assaults''.
The mother had a small win last week, with her lawyers foiling an attempt by the territory's legal team to have her case thrown out on a technicality.
It will return to court next month, when a judge will decide the basis on which the case can continue.
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