Boy dies after Aussie school brawl

Jai Morcom (pictured), died after a school fight eropted in his New South Wales high school. Photo / Myspace Image

NEW SOUTH WALES - A young boy died on Saturday morning after suffering head injuries allegedly during a fight at Mullumbimby High School on Friday.

Jai Morcom, 15, died at Gold Coast Hospital after a fight erupted over school lunch seats, Australian newspapers are reporting.

Morcom had been transferred from Mullumbimby Hospital to Gold Coast Hospital's intensive care unit, where he was placed on life support reports Courier Mail.

Witnesses have given conflicting accounts of what happened but some classmates say the year nine student was thrown against a brick wall before he fell and struck his head on concrete.

A year nine student told News Limited the fight began between two school gangs over a seat.

"One of the gangs stole a seat from our eating area," the student told News Limited.

"We stole it back and it turned into an all out brawl (and) teachers did nothing."

Another witness said the fight spiralled out of control after friendly jostling.

"It started off with play fighting but they were still trying to hurt each other," a year 12 student told the Gold Coast Bulletin

"Jai wasn't even fully involved in it straight away. He was shoved up against a brick wall near the girl's toilets by his throat. It was pretty rough then started to get more serious."

"Someone spat on someone, then they just went psycho and started punching and kicking him. Then he fell and hit his head. No one realised he had been knocked out and everyone kept kicking and punching him still."

Jai's grieving mother said her son "did not have a mean bone in his body" and described his death as a random attack. "He's not the fighting sort of boy," she told Fairfax,.

"This is such a tragedy and it's not just Jai, we are seeing our children kill each other in the schoolyard," she said. "We need to wake up to it."

Jim McAlpine, president of the principals' council, urged restraint on passing judgment on the case until police have established the full facts.

"There are very good anti-bullying policies in NSW," McAlpine told AAP on Sunday.

But he said teachers play a key role in preventing violence and must adopt a zero tolerance approach.

It comes after NSW opposition education spokesman Adrian Piccoli said the safety of pupils must be guaranteed.

"If a student is caught bullying, they will be suspended. They must do that, the principals have to take a strong stance on this."

Police would not confirm the cause of death and a NSW police spokeswoman was unable to confirm whether a homicide investigation had been launched.

"It's an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death at this time," the spokeswoman said.

Police are interviewing dozens of students and teachers who were in the playground at the time but no charges have been laid at this stage, she said.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said that schoolyard scuffles are a fact of life but parents have a right to expect children to be safe at school.

Mullumbimby High School students are planning a staged school walkout in protest against school violence today reports 9 News.

- AAP/NZHERALD STAFF