Sex pest teenager allowed to return to victim’s school
‘Pretend he’s not there’
A TEENAGE girl who was sexually assaulted at school by a fellow pupil has spoken of her ‘panic’ each time she sees the boy after he was allowed to return.
The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault and put on the sex offenders register – but was not excluded.
And despite also being given a restraining order and forbidden from contacting or approaching his victim, he has been able to keep his place at the school. He was also allowed to remain there while awaiting prosecution.
The girl, who also cannot be named, said: ‘I have to just keep my head down, pretend he’s not there, otherwise it makes me panic.’
The girl’s mother, from essex, said: ‘The day he was found guilty he should have been excluded. He should not be allowed near my daughter or any woman. I worry every single day. I don’t feel the boy was adequately punished at all.’
The Department for education sets guidelines on how schools should deal with pupils who have been convicted of a sexual offence, but each situation is dealt with on a ‘case by case basis’. The school said that it had followed all procedures correctly.
The girl told the BBC’s Inside Out east programme how the boy had started by making comments about her before touching her legs. She said: ‘Then gradually he started putting his hands up my skirt, touching my chest, and I kept telling him to stop.
‘I wanted to leave but I felt like I couldn’t do anything. I felt powerless, like I was stuck.’
The girl said the guilty verdict helped her and she believed she would not have to see him again.
She said. ‘For the most part I felt I was going mad. [I was] told in court I was a liar, but to be believed was a relief. [But] I thought I wasn’t going to see him. They said I was their main priority.’
It comes as figures obtained by the BBC show at least 6,289 sexual offences took place in and around schools between 2015 and 2017. But the true number is expected to be far higher as only 26 of 45 police forces in england and Wales responded to a Freedom of Information request for details.
Anna Cole, of the Association Of School And College Leaders, said: ‘Schools know they can’t take this lightly. It can’t just be dismissed as banter or a normal thing that happens.’
A Department for education spokesman said last night: ‘Schools are predominately safe places. In September we strengthened our guidance on how schools and colleges should support young victims of sexual assault, with additional advice on allegations of child-on-child sexual assault and sexual harassment.’