School hit with RM2mil suit

SHAH ALAM: A legal suit has been filed against a government school in Temerloh, Pahang, and others over the bullying allegedly suffered by a student.

The student’s family is seeking more than RM2mil in a bid to seek justice for the girl and highlight the harm caused by the menace.

Zaiton Yusoff said her 16-year-old daughter, the youngest of four children, has been reduced to being a depressed and traumatised teenager after a school bullying incident last year.

“She has to see a psychiatrist and psychologist at a government hospital every month and has been prescribed medications to help counter her emotional issues,’’ Zaiton, 52, told a press conference here yesterday.

Zaiton was accompanied by her daughter’s legal counsel Wan Azliana Wan Adnan.

Her daughter, Zaiton said, used to be a vibrant and bright student in her school in Temerloh before she was bullied and assaulted by a male classmate in Form Three last July.

“After the incident, my family relocated to Selangor to try to leave the bad and unhappy memories behind us,” said Zaiton.

She added that in order to seek justice for her daughter as well as to highlight the harm bullying could cause, the family decided to file a legal suit against several parties relevant to the case.

The case was filed on June 25 by the girl through Zaiton against the alleged perpetrator via his father, the principal of SMK Seberang Temerloh, the education director-general as well as the government of Malaysia at the Temerloh High Court.

According to the facts of the case, on July 11, 2019, the first defendant had teased and disturbed the girl in the school premises and later when they were in the classroom, he threw a “paper ball” and a pen at her at about 11am during history class.

Once the lesson was over, he allegedly slapped the plaintiff with his ink-covered palm and started squeezing her face and pulled at her headscarf.

The first defendant also allegedly threw blows at her chest, stomach and legs as well as squeezed her breasts.

In her statement of claim, the plaintiff is accusing the second and third defendants of failing to ensure a duty of care towards her safety while in the school premises.

She also alleged that the second and third defendants had failed to inform the girl’s parents of the incident as soon as it happened as well as failed to initiate the necessary action against the first defendant, among others.

According to the statement of claim, the girl suffered injuries to her anterior chest wall, left thigh, eye, arm and neck as well as trauma.

The girl had to also be admitted at a psychiatric ward for observation.

She is demanding RM1.5mil in general damages, RM300,000 in exemplary damages, RM300,000 in aggravated damages, legal costs and other costs deemed fit and necessary by the court.

Zaiton, who got emotional at one point, said they did not file the suit for money but to seek justice for her daughter, who has become very aggressive and self-destructive and refuses to go to school.

STAR