Outrage as thug threatens refugee with water torture
A SCHOOL bully’s sickening “waterboard” attack on a terrified young Syrian refugee has caused outrage after being filmed on a mobile phone.
The video – made by the attacker’s friend – was shared online and provoked immediate disgust.
The victim’s family arrived in Huddersfield from war-torn Homs but he and his sister have suffered such shocking abuse they are pleading to be moved.
Meanwhile almost £80,000 has been raised to help them.
A woman donor named Rose said: “I struggle for words when I think about everything your family has been through escaping Syria and starting a new life in a country that treats you like this. I want to help in any way.”
The footage shows the victim, aged 15, with his arm in a cast following an earlier incident, being headbutted before being thrust to the ground. The boy is dragged by his neck and the bully says “I’ll drown you”, while forcing water from a bottle into his mouth.
Yesterday it emerged the victim’s sister was assaulted on the same day. The girl has suffered so much playground abuse she tried to kill herself by cutting her wrists with a shard of glass.
Last night her brother said he had pleaded with his father not to send him back to Almondbury Community School where he was attacked last month.
He said: “I was feeling unsafe everywhere – even to go to the shop. I was feeling like I could not study or do my homework.
“I woke up at night and just started crying because of this problem.
“I do not feel safe at school. I was disappointed when I came to the UK because I was thinking my life is going to be good, my future is going to be really Overpowered... Syrian refugee child is grabbed by the neck
good if I study at school. And I did not achieve any of that.”
A 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been questioned by police. The suspect is understood to have been excluded from the school.
His Facebook page allegedly shows posts from the account of English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson mocking burkas. He also allegedly
shared a link to an extremist blog threatening to “expose Islam”.
The teenager said in a handwritten statement yesterday: “I regret [the incident] but wish to make it clear I was not responsible for breaking his arm, nor had I been bullying him over a period of time as has been reported.
“The incident was Waterboarding... boy is made to drink isolated
and came about from an altercation between us earlier that day. The incident was not racial as up to that time we had been on good terms.”
In a letter to parents head teacher Trevor Bowen said: “The safety and welfare of students is our number one priority and I can assure you that this situation is being taken extremely seriously.”