Sickening face of bully Britain
Caught on video, boy who fled Syria horrors ‘being water-boarded by 16-year-old’
A SYRIAN refugee allegedly ‘ waterboarded’ by a school bully in a sickening video posted online said yesterday he has been left ‘crying in the night’.
Jamal, 15, who fled fighting in his homeland, said he had been excited about his future in the UK but instead found himself the target of cruel bullies.
The video of the attack sparked widespread revulsion after it was shared on social media this week. But it also sparked an incredible reaction from wellwishers, with more than £100,000 raised in just a few hours for the boy and his family, who settled in the UK after fleeing war-torn Homs.
The video, shot on a school playing field, shows Jamal with his arm in a cast after his wrist was broken in an earlier incident. He is headbutted and then dragged to the ground by his neck. His attacker pours a bottle of water over his face while threatening to ‘drown him’ as pupils cheer.
In heartbreaking scenes, the victim does not retaliate but simply walks off, alone. None of the other children comes to his aid.
Jamal, who cannot be named in full, said: ‘When I saw everyone looking at this video, I felt ashamed of myself and why it happened. I was really upset about that.
‘I was disappointed. When I came to the UK, I was thinking my life is going to be good, my future is going to be really good if I study at school. And I didn’t achieve any of that.’
He said the bullying had left him too scared to go to school or even visit the local shop, and that he woke crying in the night. His sister has also been targeted, with a separate video showing a group of girls ripping off her headscarf.
Police investigating the attack on Jamal said a 16-year-old boy had been interviewed and reported for summons for an offence of assault over the incident at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
The suspect, who cannot be named, was also a pupil at the school and lives nearby with his mother. His family did not comment yesterday after they were reportedly targeted by vigilantes.
The suspect has previously shared posts on social media supporting the far-Right group Britain First. He also shared a video made by EDL founder Tommy Robinson and another linking to a blog which threatened to ‘expose Islam’. But he insisted the attack was not racially motivated.
In a handwritten note, the boy said: ‘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 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.’
A police car was parked outside the suspect’s home yesterday after his name and address was shared online. He faced a barrage of criticism and death threats over the attack on October 25. Among those
pledging support for Jamal were BBC radio presenter Jeremy Vine, who described the attack as ‘heartbreaking’, and Huddersfield Town goalkeeper Jonas Lossl who invited the boy to a match as his guest.
It comes as Jamal’s family revealed he had been targeted before, when his wrist was broken, and that his sister had also been bullied so relentlessly that she had tried to take her own life.
The family’s spokesman criticised the school for failing to act.
The spokesman said: ‘Within a month of entering the UK education system, [Jamal] and his sister, the only Syrian children in their respective classes, were targeted and set upon by a number of the other students with a campaign of racist bullying.’ Last month, Jamal was set upon and assaulted ‘so severely by four of the students in the school that his arm was fractured’. In a letter to parents, Almondbury headteacher Trevor Bowen said the ‘safety and welfare of students is our No 1 priority’.
West Yorkshire Police said the 16-year- old boy would appear at Youth Court in ‘due course’.