Canberra, Australia

Canberra, Australia: (May-14-07) An Australian teenager, Benjamin Cox, now 18, who was bullied at school received an A$1 million ($830,000) settlement, after a judge decreed that that the school failed to step in and stop the abuse. Cox was allegedly teased from the age of five by an older student at his public school, leaving him suffering a range of psychiatric problems and robbing him of his adolescence. Cox was regularly teased by an older bully and was beaten, and on one occasion, the bully tried to strangle Cox, who fell to the ground unconscious. His mother, Angela Cox, reported the bullying to the police and to the school, where one teacher said that such incidents were character building, prompting the bully to make a death threat against Cox. Cox was so afraid of school that he was unable to finish his education. The judge ruled that the school was responsible for the events and that it had shown gross negligence in meting out its duty of care to Cox. As a settlement, Judge Carolyn Simpson ordered the state to award Cox more than A$213,000 in damages, as well as weekly earnings for life in a payout set to top A$1 million. [CNN: SCHOOL BULLY]

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Published on May-15-07