Cellphone bashing frenzy

A 13-YEAR-OLD girl has claimed she was lured to a Wellington park, badly beaten by an older girl and left semi-conscious as up to 70 children watched the attack on mobile phones. Police are understood to have searched the homes of several pupils and seized at least one phone as evidence. They are trying to obtain footage of the beating or incriminating text messages and a decision on charges is expected next week.

Education experts say cyber-bullying - the use of mobile phones and the internet to intimidate or bully - is a growing problem.

Children's Commissioner John Angus said the attack was a worrying offshoot of the speed of new forms of information technology.

"It's certainly upped the ante because the young girl who was beaten up is in a sense being assaulted again by having the pictures downloaded and spread among her peers."

The attack, estimated to have lasted between seven and 10 minutes, happened on October 16 at a Johnsonville park. It followed a flurry of text messages and involved pupils from Onslow College.

The victim was allegedly lured by the attacker's friend to the park where her 15-year-old attacker was waiting with a crowd of about 70 other students.

Sources say the victim was punched repeatedly about the head which was also battered against the ground. She was left semi-conscious when her head hit a wall and did not remember the second half of the attack, a source said. She was later admitted to hospital with suspected concussion.

Although police youth aid officers have spoken to staff at the school, the attacker and her year 10 friend, who allegedly helped arrange the fight via text messages, remain in class. Neither has been suspended.

The school has sought legal advice and says it is powerless to formally discipline the pair until the outcome of police inquiries, as the attack happened off school grounds.

The victim has been taken out of the school for her own safety.

Her parents took her to Wellington Hospital the night after the attack because she was suffering from vertigo and shortness of breath. She was kept overnight for observation.

"I'd class it as a serious assault. That's certainly the way we're looking at it," said Sergeant Vaughan Mead of Johnsonville. "We've had varying reports but it may have been a large number [of spectators] ... possibly 60 or 70."

Onslow College principal Hamish Davidson said the school was co-operating with police, had put measures in place to ensure pupil safety and was also investigating.

"We don't have any evidence of anything happening at school that resulted in the incident. Before we can take any formal disciplinary statutory action, we have to have evidence of that link."

Secondary Principals Association president Peter Gall said schoolyard attacks had been uploaded to websites here and overseas, and cyber-bullying was implicated in some youth suicides.

There was often a "grey area" around duty of care responsibilities for schools when incidents happened off school grounds.