The Internet and blogosphere have been buzzing all week about a bullying
incident that occurred on Monday in Sydney, Australia. Sixteen-year-old Casey
Heynes was the target of repeat bullying by numerous students at Chifley College, Dunheved Campus at North St Mary’s
and can be seen in a video once again being tormented by a fellow student.
However, the video, which has gone viral this week, shows an unexpected turn of
events when Heynes decides to retaliate and ends up body slamming his
12-year-old attacker, who has been identified as Ritchard Gale. Despite the clear act of self-defense, the school made the
decision to suspend both Gale and Heynes once the video began to circulate online.
The bullying had been so severe for the overweight Heynes, the
Daily Telegraph reported the following:
Casey’s father said yesterday his son had been the victim of bullying for several years and feared for his safety if he spoke about the fight.
“There’ll be reprisals from other kids in the school and he still has to go to school somewhere,” he said.
Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident, despite Gale getting up
with a severe limp after being slammed into concrete.
This story is important because bullying is all-too-common for children on the autism spectrum, particularly
those who are high functioning. While the incident was unfortunate, it is
encouraging that it is receiving so much attention as it will certainly bring
greater awareness to bullying and some of the torment that many
students have to endure on a daily basis.
Most incidents of bullying don’t turn out like this and it’s safe to assume Ritchard Gale will think twice about picking on someone again. Kudos to Casey.
Thanks for the post Gary, here in Australia there is much debate amongst parents, and especially with those who have children on the spectrum.
The South Australian government is first to act, with Attorney General John Rau proposing new laws to prosecute anyone who posts “humiliating or demeaning content of another person without their permission”. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8224642/south-australia-plans-to-crack-down-on-cyber-bullying Within the proposed laws are also severe penalties for those who ‘set up’ others or stand by and watch situations such as this for the purpose of humiliating others.
Let’s hope that whilst this is such a terrible situation for the young boy involved, that something good may come out of it.
BULLYING is a nondescriminatory action. Perpetrators are not exclusive to a continent, race,age, gender, education level,economic status, creed, religious beliefs, or ethnicity, as the executive their cruel tactics to oppress, rule over, humiliate and harm VICTIMS!
Let’s keep advocating for Parents disciplining their kids and teaching manners; politicians cease harsh partisan bickering; schools be vigilent about addressing any signs of bullying. Remember, the bully needs help to curtail insensitive ways: either therapy or incarceration.
Although it would be good to not have to resort to violence at all, no one can really blame this child for finally trying to defend himself. It does beg the question where were the teachers, school principal and staff that they let the bullying get bad enough that this had to happen. I think that a better course of action, at least for the child who was bullied, would be a course of compulsory counselling rather than suspension so that he can have explained that violence should be avoided if possible and at the same time be shown some care and support for what he has had to go through.
So….just because the video went viral the boy was suspended???? Did he start the fight? NO. Did he create the video? NO. Did he send it out to the world? NO. Are we glad the world knows what sort of people he is up against? YES. I hope the authorities will get some sense and stand up for him and let the bully be punished as deserved.
Shame on the school admins for suspending Casey. Way to go Casey, you would make stone cold Steve Austin proud!
My hat is off to the parents of Casey. What a wonderful young man they have raised. I think this young man should admirable restraint in defending himself. In fact I found myself wishing that Casey would have been more liberal in his dresponse. The school should be ashamed of themselves for taking disciplinary action against this young boys. A quick word to the father … I do not think you need to fear any retaliation from the other boys. Cowards will not be likely to tangle with Casey going forward.
Casey, I am sorry you had to put up with these cowardly young men. Your restraint shows incredible courage. Good things await you!
Great for Casey. I’m glad he did what he did and can relate. I was a victim of bullying too until I was about 13 when I was chased home by some bullies. My dad told me that if I keep running I’ll run for the rest of my life and shut the door on me. I promptly went out and beat the living hell out of the biggest bully. For about two weeks after that I fought back and beat the bully’s to the point they’d never want to fight me again. All the karate, wrestling and boxing classes paid off. I was also suspended for defending myself. But it was worth it because not only did the bully’s stop bullying me, it encouraged others to stand up for themselves. I’m a pacifist, but I believe in peace through strength. Casey’s parents should defend him in front of the school board and expunge his school record. As an educator, I’m ashamed that schools tend to punish the innocent and go overboard with overzealous use and possible abuse of power. Casey, you could have hurt the bully badly and didn’t. I hope it taught the punk a sorely needed lesson before someone else goes a step further.
Al Peasland, one of the UK’s leading self defence and personal safety experts (based in Milton Keynes) gives his opinion on the Casey Heynes bullying incident
http://al-peasland.blogspot.com/2011/03/casey-heynes-bullied-fights-back.html
Greetings, my bullying is about my weight, but I learned to defend myself, I practice boxing and weightlifting, well done for Casey Heynes, you begin to exercise your muscles and show that you can defend yourself from those cowards who attack in groups, the mother of Ritchard Gale is a cynical, since he has made a dum ass overprotected child, greetings from Mexico and I wish Casey strength and power.
Go Casey. I hope when those other kids grown up and have their own children, their children will be on the Autism Spectrum!!Then they will understand.
Mum of two on the Spectrum.
Way to go Casey. Here in the Philippine, a little attention is given to this kind of incident and the bullies ranges not just in school but also in workplace.
Ian Robinson said:
Although it would be good to not have to resort to violence at all, no one can really blame this child for finally trying to defend himself. It does beg the question where were the teachers, school principal and staff that they let the bullying get bad enough that this had to happen. I think that a better course of action, at least for the child who was bullied, would be a course of compulsory counselling rather than suspension so that he can have explained that violence should be avoided if possible and at the same time be shown some care and support for what he has had to go through.
Casey (the victim) doesn’t need “compulsory” counseling. He got all the counseling he needed, right there on the spot. He taught a little punk that obviously has absent parents a lesson he won’t soon forget, while learning he didn’t need to put up with crap from bullies any longer. We need LESS “compulsory” psycho-babble, not more.
Because of that concrete surface, the video makes me cringe. As justified as his actions were, Casey could’ve cracked the kid’s skull.
What is this Lord of the Flies in the hall? Where for art thou adults???
WTF does this have to do with autism? Is Casey autistic?
Susan, adults are never present at these sorts of things, which happen millions of times a day in schools all over the world. Kids do this only when adults aren’t around. Don’t you remember how it worked, or did you not attend school with other kids? This is the quintessential situational example where human-on-human violence is not only 100% justifiable, but necessary and without alternative. I know it’s hard to accept, but it is the truth. There is only one method of behaviour modification that works with some bullies.
I just mean if Casey had really hurt this kid, it wouldn’t be such a happy ending. Casey could’ve ended up with charges against him, even though he was defending himself. Juvenile court could’ve been involved, even if he was found innocent it would be traumatizing.
But the fact that Casey had been chronically bullied means there’s a real problem, that adults were asleep at the wheel. Some schools have ways to anonymously report bullying that is endured or witnessed and the programs work very well. We have to do more and be more creative to counter bullying.
And yes, I attended school with other children, I didn’t have a school unto myself. Actually I endured race riots at my high school in Florida in which kids were stabbed and beaten and brained with chairs.
Glad nobody got seriously hurt but the 7th graders parents should be beat down. It’s just a lot of trash for parents out there. Watching the video I was hoping the 7th grader got his head split open but it’s not his fault. His paretns are trash. It’s too bad so much trash out there has kids.
@Susan, you still don’t make any sense. If you had all the crazy stuff at your school growing up how are you still asking the question where are the adults? I had a bully in the 4th grade and he didn’t stop until I threw a chair at him. Where were the adults? At the time I didn’t know nor did I care when I let the chair fly.
i dnt think the boy should of been suspended he was just defending him self im sure we all would of if it was us
Because all that crazy stuff happened at my high school I am powerfully aware that when the adults don’t do their jobs, the inmates run the asylum.
Casey had made the chronic bullying known, and the adults failed to respond, yet if he had done serious harm to the kid, he would’ve been blamed and punished. As it is, he was already suspended for defending himself. If the kid had ended up unconscious in a pool of blood, it would’ve been a really bad scene.
Recently my son was the victim of a verbal hate crime at school and the principal told me the perpetrator “only said it once” and that my son “overreacted”. I forced her to punish the kid by documenting the incident and invoking my son’s rights under the law and she ended up yelling and screaming at me at an IEP meeting until I walked out.
Those who put onus on parents to discipline their children must live with fairies in their garden. Welcome to the real world where particularly in schools bullying is rife, and often silently running in the background. Has anyone looked as statistics of suicides due to bullying? Which of course is the tragic consequence of this behaviour and to suspend a student for defending themselves shows there is much more emphasis put on the rights of an aggresor than the victim. I retaliated often at school and elsewhere and was punished as much if not more than the aggresor. Sick retarded society, starts at the top. Religious nutters come up with violence begets violence, turn the other cheek, tell that to a kids parent after they have been pushed to end their life due to this constant harassment.
These S.O.B. bullies make me so sick I’m blind with rage. They have no business in our society. It is absolutely disgusting and beyond word’s. So the pant’s off the parent’s of that kid for raising such a POS punk!!!
Hopefully, life for Casey will now be better, but then again it may be the same
It’s shameful that the school does not support children on the autism spectrum. They should be embarassed and ashamed of themselves . What an embarrasment to their educational system.
Susan, I understand what you are saying. if we were to look at it as adults we would see that, indeed, casey body slaming another child may have been very dangerous. But the fact is that we dont see it from a ‘older and wiser’ point of veiw, I bet you everyone who left a coment here was probably bullied at one or more points in their life and still veiw bullying from the eyes of a victomised child or teen.
Leagly Im not yet a adult (still under the age of 18), but I use to go to a public and took the school bus to and from school and the fact is that in all my 6 years at of public school exprience, I endured enough bullying on the ‘no teacher supervision’ to shape and age my hurt to that of an aged woman. I look back and realise that if I had stood up for my self like casey even once, instead of letting the bigger and older kids push me around or beat me up, or even just ignoring them when they used crude and sometimes sexual language toward me them maybe Id have more self respect and less scars. But instead I did as my teachers told me to do, and ignored what my bullies did. And now I regret that.
Maybe Im baised because I admire what casey did, but look at it this way; what would you be saying if casey hadnt taken action and simply tryed to ‘walk away’ (a saying most teachers use in relation to bullying) and Ritchard had follwed him, continuously puncking ad kicking. And then as casey tryed to walk away he was triped by the other boy and smacked his head onto the concreet or the corner of the wall and cracked his head and died? what would you say then? would you still say he would have been wrong to defent himself? And please dont say he should have talked it throug whith the bullies… beacuse I know from personal exprience that only makes them hit you harder!
Any way, maybe to others my opion dousent matter because Im still only a child but the fact is that I admire casey’s corage to stand up for himself insted of rolling into a featle position and letting the bullies do what ever they want.
Bullying will never end, no matter what law you make. That the crule reality we have to accept, but that dousent meant we have to let our self be bullied. I say people should have the right to stand up for themselfs and others when no one else will.
I agree with Susan.
I was the victim of the worst bullying at school and I was also abused by my stepfather. I did not respond with physical violence, but there were times when I wanted to.
Although I understand Casey’s anger at being bullied, I do not consider him to be a “hero”. His actions were just as bad as Ritchard’s.
Ritchard might be a bully, but he is physically smaller and weaker. He could have been hurt very badly when Casey picked him up and threw him to the concrete floor. He could have been killed or injured permanently. We should keep this in mind.
Both boys were wrong. Ritchard needs to be taught a lesson about being kind to others, and Casey needs to be taught that the way he retaliated was unacceptable. He didn’t just push Ritchard or hit him back…he picked him up and slammed him to the ground.
Casey is not a “hero” in my eyes. Some people might say he was justified and he was only defending himself, but there are other ways to do that.
Both boys need discipline and guidance. And Casey should be suspended. Not for defending himself, but for the way he chose to defend himself. He didn’t show restraint at all because he reacted to Ritchard’s violence and taunting with more violence of his own.
Hey what can i do to people when they start bulling me because i get bullied a whole bunch of times so can some body give me a good come back or can you please tell me what can i do should i tell on them or should i give the revenge so please tell me what to do PLEASE SOME ONE TELL ME WHAT CAN I DO I NEED GOOD COME BACKS IDK WHAT TO DO WHEN THEY START BULLING ME.
WHEN SOME PEOPLE START BULLYING YOU WHAT CAN MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER
A)KILL THEM
B)give them revenge
c)snitch on them
D)Get a poision snake and put it one the bull this will make u feel better