He was bullied at school - now he'll walk away with $1 million
Leonie Lamont
May 15, 2007
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BEN COX has no friends. He is unlikely to make any in the future, or form any romantic relationships. At 18, his teenage life has "all but been destroyed", and his adult life will be no better.
He will never know the satisfaction of a job, and anxiety and depression will be his likely companions for the rest of his life.
With this bleak forecast, the Supreme Court's Justice Carolyn Simpson yesterday found schoolboy bullying was to blame and Mr Cox was entitled to compensation.
In what is believed to be the biggest school bullying damages award in NSW, Mr Cox's legal team estimates the reclusive Hunter Valley teenager will receive about $1 million, giving him an income for life and superannuation.
About $213,000 of the award is for his pain and suffering.
Justice Simpson found authorities "grossly failed" him when he was in kindergarten and year 1 at Woodberry Public School by failing to protect him from repeated assaults, bullying and harassment by an older, disturbed student.
During one attack he was "throttled" and lost consciousness, and in another had a tooth knocked out when the bully tried to make him eat his jumper.
When his mother, Angela Cox, contacted the Department of Education and complained that the school had done nothing to stop the attacks, she said she was told that "bullying builds character and [the officer, Ian Wilson] thought it was a good thing Ben got bullied".
In his class photograph, above, one of many signs on the wall behind the children read: "If I hit a bully it makes me a bully.'
Another read: "To have a friend I must be a friend."
Since the bullying in 1994 and 1995, Mr Cox has seen pediatricians, psychiatrists and counsellors and was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, a separation anxiety disorder and post traumatic stress disorder.
He transferred to Black Hill Primary School where he settled well but continued to spend days at home with his mother, who herself had significant anxiety and depression. His schooling effectively ended in year 7. He is on a disability pension and, according to his mother, spends most of his time in his bedroom playing PlayStation.
The state of NSW had argued that it was his mother's emotional and psychiatric condition which had fostered Mr Cox's avoidance of school. A spokesman for the Education Department said it was examining avenues for appeal.
Justice Simpson accepted the opinion of a psychiatrist who said: "Had, at the time of the bullying, Ben been a completely normal child with no genetic history … it is my opinion more probable than not that he would have recovered from the trauma of bullying. [But] he was not a normal child. There was a genetic vulnerability."
Outside court, Mr Cox's barrister, Dennis Wheelahan, QC, said: "The implications are that pupils in our school systems who are the subject of this type of conduct [if liability is established] can expect to recover substantial damages as is the case for Benjamin Cox. This is a matter I know school authorities view differently now to the way they did 12 years ago when these series of events occurred."
Bullied Teen Paid $1 Million
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Originally Posted by Rythmic
you when a would be bully comes into view but he isn't. He probably doesn't need you to tell him that's not good.
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