BULLIED PUPIL FEELING SCARED, SCARRED

NIGHT after night, Vanessa Wienand watches helplessly as her daughter cries herself to sleep because she fears going to school.

But her daughter, a Grade 10 pupil at Krugersdorp High School (KHS) in the West Rand, wasn’t just bullied.

Her attackers made a fellow pupil film them smashing a glass bottle over her head, as they crowded around her, taunting her, calling her fat and throwing diet pills at her.

Then they uploaded the clip to Facebook. That was a fortnight ago.

Since then she’s endured constant harassment on other social networking sites, with people taunting her.

The Star broke the story last week. And this week the 15-year-old who attacked Wienand’s daughter has returned to school.

She was given a five-day suspension and a final warning following a disciplinary hearing this week.

Wienand said: “I believe the girl should be expelled after what she did to my daughter. I would never want to deny any pupil an education but what she did was unacceptable.”

She said her daughter, a first team hockey player at KHS, now refuses to go to school every morning.

“Why would any pupil want to go back to school after being bullied the way my daughter was?” asked Wienand.

“Her school work has suffered and she is struggling to cope.

“My daughter loved the school so much but now she can’t wait to leave.”

Wienand is now preparing to move her daughter out.

“I have already contacted two schools and hope I will get a response so that my daughter can leave as soon as possible.

“What breaks my heart is that my daughter was doing well at school. Also I am an ex-pupil of the school and that leaves me extremely disappointed.”

She’s also hurt by the way the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) and the school have dealt with the matter.

“The department suggested my daughter go for counselling as she is extremely traumatised. Each ap- pointment costs R500.

“They haven’t come back to me to let me know who will be paying for the counselling,” she said.

“I have paid for all the hospital bills so the department needs to pay for my daughter’s counselling. The department hasn’t even phoned to find out how my daughter is, and that for me is shocking.” She’s also furious with KHS. “The school has treated my daughter like crap!

“Firstly, I warned the school two days in advance that my daughter was getting bullied and that they were going to attack her on the Monday, yet the school did nothing about it.

“Secondly, the school did not bother to tell me that my daughter had been assaulted.

I heard from her friend at school that she had been hit with a glass bottle.”

Wienand said the school’s governing body decided not to expel her daughter’s attacker.

“I have heard that the girl who attacked my daughter was at KHS on a sports scholarship, so they did not want to expel her.

“I will chat to my lawyer about all the details.”

The school and the SGB referred all queries to the GDE.

The department’s spokesman Charles Phahlane confirmed that the 15-year-old girl pleaded guilty at the disciplinary hearing.

“The West Rand school conducted a disciplinary hearing for a learner who attacked another one with a glass bottle.

(She) was immediately suspended after the attack on the 30th January until the hearing and outcome thereof was finalised,” said Phahlane.

“The committee took into consideration that she was a first time offender, did not have a prior history of such behaviour, and did not have a blemish on her school record.

“The sanction is meant to be rehabilitative in the interests of restorative justice.”

He added that the attacker had received a final written warning, which meant that should she do anything similar, the governing body would recommend expulsion.

“She was also instructed to attend a compulsory anger management programme and counselling with a registered psychologist.

“Punitive sanctions included restrictions of certain school activities.”

Phahlane added that the department had been pleased with the way the school had handled the incident.

“The department has assessed the manner in which this matter was handled and is satisfied that the school followed due process in all respects.”