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AUCKLAND - Six students suspended after being identified fighting in videos are possibly being punished a second time for the same offence, a spokesman for the college says.
St Paul's College in Auckland suspended the students yesterday after they were seen fighting in mobile phone videos posted on the internet site You Tube.
Board of Trustees spokesman Brother Richard Dunleavy said the college was not convinced the fights were genuine, but they were keen to catch those who filmed the 'fights' and anyone who organised supposed 'fight clubs'.
He said one of the videos was at least 15 months old and some were of fights that staff believed they had known about and dealt with.
When asked by NZPA whether students in these fights were being punished a second time over a fight the school thought it had already dealt with, he said it was possible as he was not familiar with the particulars of each student.
"That will enter into the final judgment of the students if someone has already been dealt with for the fight."
Decisions on the six suspended students are likely to be made by the board next week.
Mr Dunleavy said the people the school was most keen to identify were the students who filmed the fights, and anyone who may have organised them.
"What had not been identified was that somebody had captured the fights on the mobile phone and constructed a video out of it," he said.
"It's glorifying that whole gang culture thing and that's what is most concerning."
Mr Dunleavy believed many other schools would have had similar incidents and the difference was that new technology allowed it to be captured on mobile phones.
"It is an educational institution and hopefully we will all learn from this."
Mr Dunleavy said there was a chance that some of the fights had been staged for the cameras.
"I've had a look at some of the videos and they don't look as convincing as they might."
The school is meeting with parents to discuss the issue tonight.
- NZPA
