Exposing the girl bullies

A schoolyard assault filmed on a cellphone and posted on YouTube has raised fresh fears about cyber-bullying and girl-on-girl violence.

Footage obtained by the Herald on Sunday shows a group of students from James Cook High School in South Auckland surrounding a 16-year-old girl on the school field.

After a verbal altercation, a female ringleader, also 16, repeatedly hits her victim around the head while her accomplices look on laughing.

The victim was later escorted to the school office for medical attention.

"All I could do was cry and say my face hurt," she said.

A student filmed the incident on a cellphone and the footage was posted on YouTube.

Although quickly removed from the internet site, copies were passed around the school, with one presented to the Board of Trustees.

After an internal investigation, the attacker was suspended for seven days and has returned to school. The victim's mother is "disgusted" the girl was allowed back so soon.

"I would have suspended that student for longer. It would have given her a chance to think about her actions. It would have made an example for other students about this sort of behaviour," she said.

James Cook High principal Bryan Smith said the Board of Trustees did all it could. The attacker had signed a good behaviour agreement on her return and was closely monitored.

"The girl was suspended for seven days, the maximum a board can give," Smith said.

"On hearing the evidence, there were aggravating circumstances. I'm not going to condone what happened, it definitely was wrong, and the girl has been punished."

The attacker apologised but the victim said she still feels terrified and won't walk between classes on her own. Her mother picks her up early each day so she can avoid her attacker, but defended her decision to keep her daughter at the school.

"If she leaves it will feel like she's running from the problem, rather than facing it. I don't want her to live her life like that."

Smith said the number of violent altercations at school had risen steadily and the most noticeable trend was a rise in attacks involving girls.

"You go back 15 years ago, violence between girls was pretty rare. More of our disputes are between girls than boys now."

The filming of schoolyard attacks is not new. Earlier this month, a 13-year-old Tauranga boy was filmed being beaten up by three others at his secondary school.

Last year Auckland boy Toran Henry, 17, took his own life after being referred to youth mental health services following a self-harm attempt.

His mother said one cause was embarrassment that a video of him being bashed by schoolmates was posted on the internet.

Canterbury University digital media lecturer Donald Matheson said footage posted in cyberspace could hang around for a long time, effectively revictimising the victim.

Parents Inc chief executive Bruce Pilbrow said education could decrease cyber-bullying. The family group and Vodafone are teaching parents and high school students how to make themselves media-savvy.

"It's the speed at which these things are growing, like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. We haven't learned the appropriate boundaries around these things."

Although James Cook High bans cellphone use during the school day, Smith said new technology was causing headaches for principals.

"We do our best to try and cut back on it but once technology becomes available there's not a lot you can do about it."

rebecca.milne@heraldonsunday.co.nz