Montfort Secondary student seen being pushed to the floor in viral bullying video
Update (24 Feb, 11am): In response to MS News queries, the police confirmed that a report has been lodged and investigations are ongoing.
The mother of a Montfort Secondary School student said her son was allegedly strangled and beaten before a viral video was taken of him being pushed to the floor repeatedly.
In a Facebook post late on Sunday (23 Feb) night, the netizen named Joleen Wee said she needed to speak out on her son’s “traumatic experience”.
Source: Jonden Chan on Facebook
Montfort Secondary student pushed & kicked by other boys
The clip, which was viewed more than a million times before Facebook took it down, showed a group of boys in Montfort Secondary shirts approaching another boy from behind in a school corridor.
Source: Jonden Chan on Facebook
They catch up to him at what appears to be a school canteen, where one boy pushes him down to the floor.
Source: Jonden Chan on Facebook
Another boy then kicks him twice as he’s down, to the cheers of the other boys.
Source: Jonden Chan on Facebook
Boy is kicked to the floor again
The boy gets up on his feet and does not retaliate, simply walking away.
However, the boys aren’t done with him — they continue following him.
Soon, a boy grabs him by the shoulders and kicks his legs from under him, causing him to fall to the floor again.
Source: Jonden Chan on Facebook
This causes the boy’s shoe to fall off.
Source: Jonden Chan on Facebook
He gets up, puts his shoe back on and walks away, with the video ending at that point.
Montfort Secondary has disciplined the students involved in bullying: VP
In a statement to The Straits Times (ST), Montfort Secondary’s vice-principal Wilson Tay said the school has taken “appropriate disciplinary actions” against the students involved.
After they were counselled, they acknowledged their behaviours were wrong and expressed remorse, he added. Their parents were also contacted.
He said the school takes the safety and well-being of all students seriously and has “zero tolerance for bullying and violence”.
Source: Google Maps
It will also “continue to seek to provide a safe learning environment for all students”, Mr Tay added, without elaborating on when the incident took place and when it was reported to the school.
Bullying also included strangling, alleges mother of Montfort Secondary student
But Ms Wee said she has filed a police report on the matter as she doesn’t want the authorities “to downplay the severity of the incident and handle it insensitively”, adding:
What the school and MOE has replied or answered has raised concerns about the school’s failure to protect its students.
She revealed that the video recorded only the second part of the incident, with her son allegedly strangled and beaten in the stairway before that.
She claimed the perpetrators did not let go of her son, leading to what was depicted in the video.
Marks on boy’s neck caused by alleged strangling, says mother
Ms Wee also shared photos of marks on her son’s neck caused by the alleged strangling.
Source: Joleen Wee on Facebook
She noted that the marks would’ve been caused by significant force that “could have caused death”.
She has since taken her son to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital for treatment.
Boy traumatised by incident, says mother
Ms Wee said that her son was “traumatised” by the incident and has developed a “phobia” of going to school and mixing with friends.
She is now concerned that he will develop depression.
As she’s a single mother, she now has “great difficulty” juggling work and her son, she added.
Thus, she demanded to know what action had been taken over this incident, saying:
I don’t want diplomatically correct answer like ‘the students have acknowledged that their behaviours were wrong and have expressed remorse’.
She also threatened to take legal action.
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Featured image adapted from Joleen Wee on Facebook and Jonden Chan on Facebook.
