A 10 year old child who was sexually assaulted at school by a fellow pupil wins compensation
Case study of a successful claim that was made by the mother of a child who was sexually assaulted at school. Contact our free legal helpline for a case assessment and details of no win, no fee funding on 0333 888 0445 or send an email to [email protected].
We recently settled a case out of court for a child who was sexually assaulted at school by another pupil when she was just 10 years old.
She had been playing with some friends and classmates in a school field during her lunch break. However another pupil took her to a concealed area behind some foliage, and touched her inappropriately.
She told various members of staff what had happened, but the incident was not fully investigated until some time afterwards. Things only seemed to be taken seriously when the child told her mother that she had been sexually assaulted at school and her mother contacted the school. Even so, her mother had to formally complain about the handling of the incident before she felt that it had been appropriately looked into.
Sadly the girl developed psychological issues following the assault, including stress symptoms, disturbed mood, and anxiety. She had treatment from her GP to help her recover.
It was against this background that her mother contacted specialist abuse lawyer Elizabeth Duncan. Elizabeth considered all that had happened and agreed to pursue a compensation claim against the school on a No Win No Fee basis.
Elizabeth felt that if the school had properly supervised the children then the assault never would have happened, particularly as both the schoolchildren involved had additional needs that required one-to-one support from staff. The school’s insurers denied this, saying that the school had done nothing wrong. Elizabeth refused to accept this and proceeded with the legal claim, arranging for an independent child psychologist to prepared a report about the impact of the assault and involving a specialist barrister.
Fortunately this lead to the insurance company changing its stance and ultimately making an offer of compensation which the child’s mother accepted.
Elizabeth said:
“Cases involving sexual abuse or assault of a child by another child are always difficult. No one likes to think that such things can happen, but they do, and schools should have procedures in place to protect all children in their care. It is also important that if things do go wrong then they are dealt with thoroughly and quickly, to help the child process what has happened and move forward with their lives. I am so pleased that we were ultimately able to agree an out of court settlement in this case, Not only was compensation awarded, but both the child and her mother felt that they had been properly heard and what had happened had been acknowledged.”
If you or a loved one have been sexually assaulted at school then contact our free legal helpline for a case assessment and details of no win, no fee funding. Call us in complete confidence on 0333 888 0445 or send an email to [email protected].