Nathan, 15, has been having trouble at school with the same boy for some months now.
Joel, 16, is in the year above Nathan and regularly picks on him in the playground, calling him names and humiliating him in front of his friends and peers.
One afternoon, when Nathan was taking his regular route home through the fields, Joel was waiting for him. The teenager and four other boys from his year began ridiculing Nathan, calling him names and making fun of him. He tried to ignore them and carry on walking, but Joel was persistent.
As Nathan tried to walk off, he ran in front of him,
Nathan asked Joel to leave him alone as he didn’t want any trouble.
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and began pushing him backwards. Nathan asked Joel to leave him alone as he didn’t want any trouble.
With that Joel punched Nathan in the face, sending him to the floor with the force of the blow. He and his friends then ran off.
Nathan, shocked and dazed, managed to eventually get up. He stumbled home where his mum cleaned the blood from his face. She decided to take Nathan to the local A&E as he appeared to have quite a nasty gash on his forehead where he landed on the ground.
From the hospital Nathan’s mother called the police to report the attack. They booked an appointment for Nathan to visit the Police Constable that is based at his school to make a statement.
Nathan made the statement and Joel was arrested for assault. He was later given a caution for the offence and was expelled from the school. Nathan was offered help via Victim Support. They gave him counselling and helped him to deal with the impact of the assault on him.
It took him a while to cope with what had happened but he is gradually getting his confidence back.