“I didn’t realise the gravity of what he was going through until an incident this week,” says Raheem Bailey’s mother, who claims her son has been bullied on a regular basis since starting secondary school in September last year.
A bunch of youngsters assaulted, beaten, kicked, and shoved Raheem Bailey to the ground at school on Tuesday, according to his mother Shantal Bailey.
Her son had attempted to flee, but had his finger stuck while scaling a fence, requiring it to be amputated later.
Since starting secondary school in south Wales in September, she claims Raheem has been subjected to “racial and physical abuse,” as well as bullying because of his height.
Ms Bailey documented her son’s suffering on a GoFundMe campaign she put up with a £10,000 goal to seek money for a prosthetic finger and other expenses related to his recuperation.
More than £73,000 had been contributed as of Saturday evening, and the total was still growing.
“I’m fundraising to obtain my 11-year-old son, Raheem Bailey, a prosthetic finger and any further costs to set him on the path to recovery,” Ms Bailey said on the page.
Since starting secondary school in September 2021, Raheem has endured racist and physical harassment, as well as more general bullying over his height and other things.
“I didn’t realise the gravity of what he was going through until one event last week, even though he had mentioned a couple occurrences of people being’mean to him’ previously.”
He attempted to jump a fence to exit the school grounds during the attack, she claimed.
“His finger got trapped and adhered to it, ripping the flesh and breaking the finger in half,” she explained.
“His finger had to be removed after six hours of surgery to preserve it, which was eventually unsuccessful.”
“Sending Love & Light to a very courageous young Man who should never have had this happen to him,” one donor wrote, and “I am very sorry for what has happened to Raheem.” I know firsthand the dread and sorrow that bullying can cause since I was tormented in school.”
“We condemn bullying and racial harassment in any form,” the Welsh government said in a statement.
“We expect claims and incidences of bullying and racism to be thoroughly investigated by schools, with appropriate action taken to resolve the situation and avoid future incidents. We believe that the school and the local government are investigating this occurrence, and that Gwent Police are also involved and investigating.”
