The parents of a boy who was rushed to hospital after allegedly being assaulted in a schoolyard game have hit out at the school and education department.
Nadal Chemaisse, ten, walked in on a group of older boys in the toilets at Wattawa Heights Public School, in Sydney’s south-west, and was punched in the side of the head, his parents claim.
Nadal’s distraught mother and father claim the punch rocked the young boy, causing him to hit his head on the wall before falling and smashing his head on the floor.
Rana Chemaisse (pictured) and her husband Walid have hit out at the NSW Department of Education and their son Nadal’s (pictured in hospital) school after he was allegedly assaulted on school grounds
However the education department claims the incident was simple a school yard ‘game gone wrong’.
His mother, Rana Chemaisse, said she received the call about her son while overseas for her and her husband Walid’s anniversary, Ten News reported.
‘I couldn’t breathe when my daughter called me, it was every parents worse nightmare to hear your child is in intensive care,’ she said.
She said she couldn’t understand how her friendly and gentle son would be targeted in such a violent way.
‘How can you hurt my son that bad? It’s a thug act, no mercy, we want to know how? Why? He was dead! How did this happen at school with teachers around,’ she said.
Nadal’s heart stopped momentarily before paramedics were able to revive him.
The parents allege the punch rocked the young boy, causing him to hit his head on the wall before falling and smashing his head on the floor
NSW Education Deputy Secretary Murat Dizdar said in a statement that Nadal’s injuries were a result of a game gone wrong.
‘The school will unpack the incident further, and take appropriate action where necessary in line with the school’s discipline policy, a number of students involved in playing a game that has gone tragically wrong,’ he said.
Mrs Chemaisse said she would not accept the ‘boys will be boys’ argument.
She said the family of the boy who is alleged to have attacked Nadal had not even contacted her which was one of the ‘most disappointing things’ in the wake of the alleged attack.
Mrs Chemaisse said her son had never had any trouble at school prior to the alleged attack.
Nadal Chemaisse was hospitalised and is in critical condition after allegedly being assaulted
‘We’ve never had any issues with fights or bullying … I want to emphasise that he is a happy and popular child at the school and we’ve never had any problems there,’ Mrs Chemaisse told Nine News.
The young boy was left fighting for life after allegedly ‘being assaulted’ and ‘turning blue’ in the schoolyard, where he was playing a game with friends when the incident occurred.
‘We are grateful for the quick response from the school, paramedics and the NSW Police for all their efforts for saving my son’s life,’ she said.
Nadal’s mother is an employee at the school but was in Dubai when the incident occurred.
Police initially declared the school’s playground a crime scene after reports the boy had been bashed.
Paramedics performed CPR on Chemaisse after he collapsed in Wattawa Heights Public School
A young schoolboy is in critical condition after he was allegedly bashed at a school in Sydney’s west
But relatives of the boy – whose condition has stabilised – told Daily Mail Australia he was playing a game with friends and they did not believe he had been attacked.
‘These are all rumours; there was no bashing – nothing like that. It was just an incident with friends playing around,’ the family member said.
Police confirmed on Wednesday morning that the boy suffered from a pre-existing medical condition.
In a statement, police said they had spoken to the other students involved in the alleged incident, and were not expecting to take further action.
‘Police have been told the boy was involved in a game with a group of other students when he was allegedly assaulted and fell backwards,’ the statement read.
A Police spokesman also told The Daily Telegraph they had spoken to the boys involved and no further action would be taken.
The 10-year-old was at Wattawa Heights Public School in Bankstown, in Sydney’s west, when the alleged incident occurred