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maelorin at 05:47pm on 03/02/2005Redlands school stabbing charges dismissed
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Redlands-school-stabbing-charges-dismissed/2005/02/03/1107228831452.html
February 3, 2005 - 3:55PMA magistrate today cited mental health laws when dismissing criminal charges against a 15-year-old teenager accused of stabbing a fellow student at a Sydney private school.
A 13-year-old was stabbed in the back while in the playground of the exclusive SCECGS Redlands school, on Sydney's north shore, on November 19 last year.
The victim, then a Year 8 student, was hospitalised but released the next day.
The 15-year-old was charged with maliciously wounding the 13-year-old, maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm and having custody of a knife in a school.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges when he appeared in Bidura Children's Court last December.
The case returned to Bidura today but Magistrate Paul Mulroney dismissed the charges under the Mental Health Act.
Mr Mulroney released the boy into the care of his parents and ordered the teen, who suffers from the developmental disorder Asperger's Syndrome, continue receiving therapy and assessment.
Sufferers of Asperger's Syndrome often experience impaired social interaction, due to their inability to understand social behaviour.
AAP
umm. there is so much i need to find out about this, i don't know where to start.
otherwise, i just might have to yell at a journalist or two.
indescribable
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Is it possible that the 13-year-old was harassing/bullying the older one? I know I've been pushed to some pretty violent acts in response to bullying in the past, and many 13-year-olds do seem to tend towards persistent "serious asshat" nastiness, as anybody that has spent time around a middle school can attest!
I was severely and *violently* bullied at that age by other students. Much later in life when I was volunteering as a teacher's aide at various local schools, it seemed to me that the 13-year-olds as a group were the most prone to be nasty little jerks towards just about anybody.
I'm not saying that what the kid did was correct by any means... Just that it wouldn't surprise me if he was pushed to that extreme, rather than being the sort to have violent urges on his own.
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i'm particularly interested in the judge's reasoning. [me lawyer. me want the law-talking-guy stuff.]
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i've posted a copy today.
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and the school's policies and procedures are under the microscope.
indications are that his aspiness isn't being used to excuse his conduct, so much as explain why he reacted the way he did.
being released under a mental health act isn't something i'd wish on many people. he can be yanked back into court over a whole range of things - and this can be held over his head for as long as 'the system' deems necessary ...