Bullied boy, 5, scalped and stoned

A five-year-old boy was chased into a brick wall, scalped, stoned and tortured during years of schoolyard bullying from a group led by a student in charge of protecting him.

Lachlan Antony Guerin also suffered a minor brain injury during the attacks at the Queensland school in 1997 and 1998, the Courier Mail reports.

His guardian Evelyn-Joy Lindsay-Park filed a claim for $250,000 in Brisbane's District Court but agreed to an offer of $150,000 from St John's Lutheran Primary School during an out-of-court settlement.

In the claim, Ms Lindsay-Park said Lachlan's school-assigned buddy was supposed to "provide guidance, support, mentoring and/or friendship" but instead abused him.

The "buddy" and his mates regularly pegged rocks at Lachlan and stopped him from using the bathroom, once to the point where he wet himself.

Lachlan, now 16, was also hit, kicked, ridiculed and, in one incident, chased into a brick wall and scalped. He suffered bruising and scarring to the head as well as cuts and a chipped tooth.

The attacks were so intense that Lachlan also suffered a minor brain injury which affected his upper limb function, speech and co-ordination.

Ms Lindsay-Park claimed the school breached its duty of care and that parental complaints were not taken seriously to prevent future bullying.

The school's principal Helen Folker declined to comment.

ninemsn 8 May 2009

Pathetic inaction from the schooling system, and Principle concerned.