A young boy who has been too terrified to go to school after he was allegedly raped daily in the playground toilets by his ‘buddy’ is ready to get back into the classroom – but his mum is struggling to get him a seat on the bus.
The boy was sexually assaulted in 2014, over a period of three weeks, since then he has beaten his fear of public toilets and decided he wants to try to go to school again.
So his mother, who moved out of Sydney for a fresh start following the assault, found a small school specialising in children with autism and enrolled him.
A young boy who has been too terrified to go to school after he was allegedly raped daily in the playground toilets by his ‘buddy’ is ready to get back into the classroom – but his mum is struggling to get him a seat on the bus
The school is 43.5 kilometres away from the family home – that’s 3.5 kilometres further than the guidelines for assisted transport – which means the boy won’t be able to catch the assisted bus
The school is 43.5 kilometres away from the family home – that’s 3.5 kilometres further than the guidelines for assisted transport – which means the boy won’t be able to catch the assisted bus.
‘Other children on that bus live more than 40 kilometres away – I have spoken to the parents,’ his mother told Daily Mail Australia.
‘And the bus driver has two spare seats and is happy to have him.
‘But the government has rejected our appeal and suggested we enroll him in the local high school.’
The boy, who is now 11, ‘doesn’t feel safe going to a mainstream school yet’ and told his mother he would ‘prefer to keep being home schooled’.
‘He was so excited when we found this new school, he just wants to make some friends and move forward.
‘It is a small school, the teachers understand how to deal with his PTSD, we have to take small steps.’
The mother said she has deferred her own university education this year so she can take her son to school.
‘He was so excited when we found this new school, he just wants to make some friends and move forward.’
The 11-year-old still suffers from insomnia, nightmares and suicidal tendencies following his abuse
‘It will take two hours out of my day but he needs this,’ she said.
The 11-year-old still suffers from insomnia, nightmares and suicidal tendencies following his abuse.
‘He has started to trust public toilets again – he has come a long way after getting help for a year and I don’t want to dump him in a big school in case he goes backwards.’
An application for travel made by the boy’s mother on the grounds of his disability, history and PTSD was rejected.
A letter from the NSW Department of Education explained the application did not meet guidelines for assisted school travel.
Last year the mother made her son’s sexual abuse allegations public.
An old letter written by the boy explaining his abuse and how he was treated
The young boy left this note for his mother a year after his abuse – on the day he brought a knife to school to attack his abuser who he would see on sport days despite moving schools
After three weeks of ‘daily’ abuse the young boy, who had already told three teachers but been ‘brushed off’, told his mother another boy had ‘touched him when he went to the toilet’.
‘At that point I didn’t know the extent of what happened – I was in shock,’ the mother told Daily Mail Australia.
‘We called the police and he told them what the other boy had done to him, and I just cried.’
‘The principal told him he was lucky he was autistic because he ”wouldn’t feel the impact of sexual abuse like other children”, but three years later he is still feeling it,’ she said.
The family have struggled with the boy’s crippling anxiety and fears since he was attacked in the school bathroom.
The family have struggled with the boy’s crippling anxiety and fears since he was attacked in the school bathroom
A heart-breaking note written by the young boy to other children experiencing sexual abuse highlights how much it impacted him.
‘I tried to hurt myself I hated this,’ he wrote.
‘They made me change schools but I wanted to stay but the boy who did this to me got to stay.
‘I’m sorry you’re sad. I went through emotions like you.
‘My principal said I’m lucky I have Autism because I won’t feel what a normal person would feel but I don’t feel lucky,’ he wrote.
In fact for three years the young boy has been suffering following the abuse which he says started on his second day of school.
The student, who was in year three at the time, was excited to go to school in the beginning but after a few days ‘ changed his mind’.
His mother now realises she missed ‘the signs something wasn’t right’ for three weeks.
His mother now realises she missed ‘the signs something wasn’t right’ for three weeks