Cruel school attack goes viral | A Current Affair

it's a nauseating video showing disgraceful bullying but it's a video the mum and dad of the victim want you to see Amber's parents are not only angry about the torment of their 15 year old daughter but how the authorities dealt with it was devastating my heart broke Michell Panozzo will never forget the moment she saw this video we can't identify the teenagers in this video but the girl they're attacking is Michelle's 15 year old daughter amber this has been going on for a period of two to three years serious bullying that has taken a huge toll on my daughter and our entire family it's awful you know you can't help but be angry when you see it really brings it home what happens Erin Panozzo is Amber's dad where do you think this hate comes from I can't possibly imagine how anyone could feel that way toward somebody else what impact is all this had on amber she's not the same girl anymore she's changed over the last couple of years as a result of being bullied in it it's something we just can't get her away from looking for a sea-change four years ago Aaron and Michelle moved from Melbourne to Queensland's Gold Coast they say as soon as they put their daughter amber in school here the bullying started they moved her to three different high schools but on each occasion the bullying got worse this photo was taken when we first moved up to Queensland probably three years ago and she looked happy and healthy happy healthy girl having a fun day on our bellies fast forward two years and this is Amber in hospital where she spent three months and obviously suffering very much from malnutrition here she stopped eating yep anxiety and depression from bullying and you have no doubts that was that was the cause absolutely we know that from the doctors and psychologists Erin and Michelle say Amber was quiet and like many teenagers a little insecure making her the perfect target for bullies and by the time she got to her third high school she was being physically attacked there had been boys that had been saying some quite vile things to her and then one day they just decided that they'd come up and slap her legs as hard as they could and as you can see from those photos there's welt marks and hand marks so this this was in in a classroom during a lesson that's correct how does this happen I have no idea Michelle says when they complained at the school where it happened Helensvale high they were told the boys would be punished but she says the school refuses to say how they'd be punished Michelle says they didn't go to police because they knew it would just make life harder for their daughter was she afraid terrified to go to school and in the end you pulled amber out of school altogether I have pulled out from Helens file shares I've been to school since the end of turn three this video was the last straw posted on snapchat recorded and then sent to Amber three weeks ago you know these girls they've been in your home yeah we've heard him in our home they were welcome in our home they you know they were Amber's friends for a while and then we heard amber started having problems with him like many in this country I was absolutely mortified at the cruelty the language and the real vehemence of the way in which they were conducting themselves president of Queensland's Law Society bill Potts this is not merely childish behavior this is behavior of a kind which can do real and lasting damage to another person the father of one of these girls said that this was supposed to be a joke and that Amber was never supposed to see it do you buy that I can't believe it it's clear that their intention in the video is to try and push our daughter over the edge his father says his daughter is a sweet young girl but there doesn't seem anything sweet about this to me there's plenty of other posts that suggest that she's not the actual acts that they are doing may certainly be clear evidence that they are using effectively the internet to bully harass and intimidate somebody else it's a serious offence under the Commonwealth legislation Michelle and Aaron have gone to police to complain but say Amber was too distraught to make a formal statement until she does police say they won't act to show what Amber was putting up with a family friend posted the video on Facebook where it had more than 70,000 views the day the video went viral the school called me and the first thing they said to me was could you please take the video down in the end Facebook decided to pull the video down what was your reaction to that but I was quite annoyed because I thought that it has a chance of educating people so the whole community that the general public can see what goes on so do you think there should be tougher penalties for kids that are bullying other kids absolutely yeah so far Helensvale hi I won't say what they've done to help Amber Michelle says she even wrote to Queensland's premier in a stage of Polish a we spoke out about bullying after the Dali Everett case last year Michelle says when Amber was being bullied at a private school she emailed the premier only to get a letter from the Education Department saying because amber wasn't going to a state school at the time the department couldn't help her I think the premier needs to back up her words and provide some kind of avenue for parents like us to to pursue to help us with with this because there's other parents in our situation feeling just as helpless as us perhaps it's time parents of the bullies took some responsibility do you think perhaps the parents need to be held accountable yes I do if that was my children on that video I would probably take them to the police station myself because that's unacceptable behavior [Music] Chris Allen joins me now Chris have there been any consequences at all so far for any of those bullies well Tracy the simple answer is we don't know neither the school nor the Queensland Education Department will comment on it because of privacy so Amber's parents have said this has happened in the past they've made complaints being told it's been investigated but they haven't been told what the action is and so Amber is still afraid to go to school we do know she has finally given a statement to the police but the police have told the parents they want to wait until she's feeling stronger before they proceed with an investigation because she'll have to be involved in that investigation Chris and you mentioned in your story a year ago we were talking about young dolly Everest who took her life after Queensland school bullying that her parents said was not addressed and I guess a year later we're having a similar conversation about as something an ongoing issue if you like what is it going to take to get a systemic response to this problem yes look it's hard to know Tracy because of course the Queensland Government did set up a cyberbullying task force it examined this for some months came up with recommendations which this state government adopted but most of those recommendations revolved around identifying bullying better better treatment of people who have been bullied how to stop the bullying or worthy stuff but the parents of people like amber say what we need are penalties tougher penalties for the boys kids who bully other kids if you were the parents of the bullies you would want it to be handled by the school not the police wouldn't you well you would think so and in fact one of the the parents of one of these alleged bullies has been quoted as saying that his daughter is deeply remorseful that he's disabled her social media platforms and will cooperate with whatever the school does okay thanks very much Chris I know we'll stay

Channel: A Current Affair

Views: 3,452,582

Rating: 4.8569078 out of 5

Keywords: A Current Affair, 9 News, nine news, Entertainment, True Crime, Tracy Grimshaw, Interviews, online bullying, Celebrity, Politics, australian news, 60 minutes, 60 minutes australia, 9news australia, viral video, 9news, Tracey, A Current Affair Australia, breaking news, ACA, cyber bullying

Id: i4jMJScFhdo

Length: 9min 12sec (552 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 19 2019

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[u/WarPigs02]

Hmm. Maybe she has autism like me. People pick on me because I have emotional problems that I can't help. lol I tried to educate every one of those morons. Speaking to them individually, in public I say: "I'm sorry if you think I'm causing drama, but I have autism and social anxiety. It is not something I can just turn off." If they couldn't respect me enough to just leave me alone, then I would scare them off by reporting them.
My thinking is this: I just want to be left alone to work. I LOVE working, and I HATE when people try to put their social Drama on me. Or even BLAME ME for causing drama when they discriminate against my Autistic Ticks that I try So Damn Hard to control.

It is unfuckingbelievable that these assholes sit in their little corner away from the cameras and do nothing but talk and I get in trouble for "causing drama". One time I asked a girl to help me put stuff away to prep for tomorrow, and she just goes to complain about it to her friends. Fucking lazy ass.

Oh and people always pick on me for showing nervous autistic ticks like smiling and lowering my head.

That is me trying to contain the discomfort of being in a social environment. Believe me it is a PHYSICAL REACTION it is a DISABILITY and it CANNOT be turned off just because you tell me:

"Oh don't think too much." "Oh you look normal to me." "Oh you work too much." "Oh calm down."

I have taught myself cognitive reconstruction in the spot and able to reprogram my anger.

But don't think I am not pissed off at your insensitive and frankly stupid comments and hypocritical behaviors.

I fucking hate normal people sometimes they judge people WRONGLY I might add! But they claim the victim when YOU 360 and judge THEM.

[u/WarPigs02]

Thats my theory, she is what "Normal People" call: "Weird."

And anyone who knows those kids in that school, I bet you can still tell exactly who they are hahaha!

It must feel great to be outed as a bunch of little PRICKS. Even if it's just a needle in a needle stack.

[u/Eye_Doc_Photog]

Same thing as I went to school 30 yrs years ago.

Headmaster: "Oh we're going to punish everyone, don't you worry."

The only one punished, truly, was me.