London: In a shocking case, a six-year-old
British girl has been physically and sexually abused routinely
allegedly by 23 of her classmates of the same age.
The girl was stripped daily and routinely assaulted by
the pupils in the grounds of the Welsh school, but it took two
years for education officials to investigate the victims
torment, the Daily Mail reported.
However, due to the young ages of the accused and lack
of evidence little action could be taken, the school and local
council said.
A review has now been ordered into that investigation,
which meant none of the children involved in the abuse were
removed from school.
In a recent interview, the child's mother said, "My
daughter was just like any other little girl. I will never
forget the look on her face.. the fear on her face. I said 'It
is OK you can tell Mummy' and then it all started to come
out".
"And she was telling me things that I think every mother
dreads to hear from their daughter. It was horrendous what
she'd gone through".
The mother moved her daughter to a school in another
area but it was not until she took legal action that the local
authority carried out a serious case review.
She says her daughter is doing better but believes she
will be traumatised for life.
Children's Commissioner for Wales Keith Towler said
teachers needed on-going training to better recognise such
incidents and the serious case review system in Wales would be
changed to help prevent similar failures in the future.
"This is a shocking failure and the bottom line is the
family will never know what happened to their child," said
Towler.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, April 01, 2010, 18:37