Cheerleader to fight ruling over attacker

The teenage cheerleader was expelled from her high school for not shaking her pom-poms in support of her attacker. File Photo / APN

A teenage cheerleader who was sexually assaulted by a star player from her high school's basketball team is to appeal after a court ruled she had no right to refuse to applaud her attacker during subsequent matches.

The girl, known as HS, is suing Silsbee High School in Texas for expelling her from the cheerleading squad after she would not shake her pom-poms in support of Rakheem Bolton.

Three judges from the Fifth US Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled her constitutional rights had not been violated, and ordered her to pay the school's legal costs.

The lawsuit stretches back two years, and began when HS, who was 16 at the time, was taken into a games room at a house party in the small town in south-east Texas and sexually attacked by Bolton and two other young men.

Bolton later pleaded guilty to misdemeanour assault, for which he received two years of probation, community service, a fine and was required to take anger-management classes. Charges of rape were dropped, leaving him free to return to school and take up his place on the basketball side.

During his first game back, HS, who remained highly traumatised from the incident, sat down on the occasions when his name was being applauded.

"I didn't want to have to say his name and I didn't want to cheer for him," the girl said.

The sports-obsessed school's superintendent, Richard Bain, responded by ordering HS to cheer for her attacker. When the girl refused, she was expelled from the cheerleading squad.

She swiftly sued, saying Silsbee had violated her rights to free speech. However several courts, most recently the Fifth US Court of Appeals, have found that her treatment was in line with the letter of the law.

The girl is prepared to take her case all the way to the Supreme Court.

- Independent