Kids seeking intervention orders against their school bullies ‘daily’

School bullies are being slapped with intervention orders at an alarming rate, with magistrates saying principals and parents aren’t doing enough to protect victims.

School bullies are being slapped with intervention orders on a “daily” basis, with magistrates saying principals and staff are not doing enough to protect victims.

Fed-up students are increasingly taking matters into their own hands and seeking the personal safety intervention orders against their bullies, with some even being banned from schools.

Children’s Court magistrate Darrin Cain revealed he was making such orders “daily”, with estimates that hundreds of bullies are issued them each year.

Courts are granting the orders after hearing of sickening and relentless harassment, stalking, threats and physical abuse on Victorian school grounds.

In one terrifying case, a bully had allegedly taken a machete to school to threaten a fellow student.

In another, a teenage girl text her target, calling her “trans” and an “ugly bitch” before telling her to kill herself and sharing a video on how she should do it.

The orders prohibit the bullies from approaching, telephoning, texting, emailing or contacting the protected person.

Courts are granting the orders after hearing of sickening and relentless harassment, stalking, threats and physical abuse on Victorian school grounds. Picture: iStock

Anyone subject to an order must also not stalk, assault, harass or threaten the applicant – or get someone else to do it on their behalf.

And some judicial officers are going one step further and banning the teenage bullies from their school as a special condition of the protective orders.

The Herald Sun has spent several days inside courtrooms dedicated to hearing intervention order matters in the Children’s Court of Victoria where a concerning number of applications were between schoolchildren.

Mr Cain said: “In the past I have not excluded young ones (from school), but in recent times it has just got so nasty.

“And it’s very simple, if we’ve got a kid who is not feeling safe at school because of bullying … (the bully has) got to find another school.”

Schools needed to step up, he said, adding: “I wish they would intervene more.”

Mr Cain made the remarks in a children’s court last month, when a 14-year-old girl he had banned from a secondary college three weeks earlier begged him to allow her to return to her education.

Magistrate Darrin Cain said he wished schools would ‘intervene more’ in bullying matters. Picture: iStock

The court heard she had been friends with her victim for a short time, before it soured and quickly escalated to violence.

“F--k you … I will bash you one day. See what happens tomorrow,” the bully said in threatening voice messages sent to her victim.

She later physically assaulted the girl, with Victoria Police seeking an intervention order against the tormentor on behalf of the victim, while the school also suspended the bully for four days.

Mr Cain amended the condition to allow the bully to return to school, with a stern warning.

“(Your victim) will be saying, ‘I’ve had a bit of clear air at school, not being bullied’,” he said.

“If you even look sideways at (her) and make her feel unhappy, or get a mate (to do harmful things), then you will be back here.”

The girl’s lawyer outlined he had told her if she breached the order, she could face criminal charges.

The school could also put in “no-go zones”, he suggested, to ensure the two students were separated.

On another day, magistrate Robyn Hamilton, dealing with a busy list of about 20 intervention order matters, gave a similar warning to a boy who was applying to have his school ban lifted.

A magistrate warned parents of a boy who allegedly took a machete to school to address the matter at home. Picture: iStock

The court heard the boy’s victim felt unsafe after the bully allegedly took a machete, concealed in his pants, to school.

“The narrative is very concerning to me,” Ms Hamilton said.

“This is an increasing situation with young men in particular armed with weapons.

“It is a criminal offence to conceal a weapon like that.

“One swipe with them can actually kill someone – they are incredibly dangerous weapons.”

She turned to his parents, sitting either side of him in the front row, and asked: “Are you taking some sort of action?”

Her question was met with silence, with a family lawyer telling the magistrate she had advised them not to speak as their son, who denied having the machete, was facing criminal charges.

“You are at the frontline of this,” Ms Hamilton told the parents.

“Unless you do something, nothing will be achieved and nothing will change.

“It needs to be addressed by education in the home. The parents need to be right on top of it.”

The boy was ordered not to go within 200m of the protected person’s home or workplace, and to avoid contact with him when back at school.

“You can’t go near him. If you see him, you will have to move,” Ms Hamilton warned the respondent.

“It might also be that (the applicant) is nervous about you coming back to school. The best thing you can do about that is just to leave him be.

“If you approach him, or interact with him in anyway, that will be a breach, and that is a criminal offence. You do not want to rack up charges in relation to this. So be very mindful of avoiding him.”

A teenage girl was sent a barrage of messages by a former friend, telling her to kill herself. Picture: iStock

Minutes later, 17-year-old Amelia, not her real name, sitting in the front row next to her mother, bravely applied for an intervention order against a girl she once considered her friend.

The pair used to go to high school together but relentless abuse, and a failure by the school to nip it in the bud, meant Amelia left and turned to online schooling.

She had not heard from the bully in more than a year.

But out of the blue, on March 5, the 16-year-old girl sent her a follow request on her Instagram, with messages to “let me in” and “#justice”.

Annoyed Amelia would not accept her request, a barrage of messages followed containing name-calling, threats she would come to her home and telling her to kill herself.

Ms Hamilton labelled the messages “extraordinary” and “awful”.

“I am sorry that you are going through it,” she told Amelia.

“I am satisfied an interim order is required to protect your safety.

“My hope is of course that is enough to stop her behaviour.”

Ms Hamilton added: “You have a right to feel safe. You have a right to be free from this. You have a right to take legal action – and that’s what you are doing today. Stand up for yourself. It’s great.”

A Department of Education spokeswoman said Victorian schools had zero tolerance to bullying.

“There are clear expectations for student behaviour in all government schools,” she said. “Where incidents occur, schools take strong responsive action, including disciplinary action where appropriate.”

Originally published as Kids seeking intervention orders against their school bullies ‘daily’