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Home / New Zealand

Boy concussed after midnight attack in Rathkeale hostel

By JO MOIR
Wairarapa Times-Age·
22 May, 2007 05:00 AM3 mins to read

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A MIDNIGHT attack at Rathkeale College boarding hostel left a 15-year-old boy in hospital with concussion at the weekend.
Rathkeale College principal Neville Duckmanton said two 16-year-old Rathkeale day-boys and a pupil from another college in Wairarapa entered both boarding hostels on Friday night through a fire exit door that had
been left ajar.
"The three boys went through both the junior and senior hostel, turning boys out of their beds and hitting them."
Seven boys from all year levels were hit during the attack, "with one boy receiving concussion which he was taken to hospital for," he said.
"This was a random act, it was dark and all the lights were off when it happened and initially we had trouble identifying which boys were involved."
Mr Duckmanton said the two Rathkeale day-boys had been suspended from school and would be required to go before a board disciplinary committee within the next seven days.
"The boys' parents are totally distraught with what has happened. Neither boy had been stood down in the past and there was no history of them doing this in the past."
At the time of the incident the boys returned to bed, he said.
"It wasn't until the next morning that staff were told about it as some of the boys in the hostel didn't even wake up to it at the time."
The 15-year-old victim has laid a complaint with the police, he said, and "the parents of all the boys at the hostel have been contacted".
"An assembly was held this morning where we told the whole school what had happened, with all the facts so that no other stories were going round."
At the time "the boys thought it would be a fun thing to do, and it has turned out badly for them and we guess alcohol was involved", Mr Duckmanton said.
"The security procedures at the hostel need to be reviewed because of this and we may need to assess putting in security cameras, at least at the gates."
The college "works really hard on violence and bullying and at the moment we are going through a process of ensuring the parents that this was a random act, and that the hostel is a safe environment", he said.
Rathkeale College board of trustees chairman Andy Pottinger said the issue is being taken very seriously and the board would be taking the responsibility of ensuring it is dealt with.
"Regardless of whether it was three minutes of madness or a three-hour pre-empted attack, either way it won't be tolerated at our school."
The board and staff are upset and shocked by the incident, "but we are confident that Neville and his management team are handling it as best they can to the disciplinary guidelines that are in place," he said.

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