A FORMER student of Sultan Mahmud Science Secondary School in Terengganu, who suffered permanent hearing impairment as a result of being bullied in school four years ago, has been awarded a whopping RM616,634 in damages, the New Straits Times reports.

The Kuala Terengganu High Court yesterday found five former students of the school, who were then Fifth Formers, guilty of bullying the then 14 year-old. 

Their beating, kicking and slapping by the five resulted in the victim to lose hearing in his right ear due to injuries to his eardrum.

Judge Zainal Azman Ab Aziz also found two school administrators – the senior assistant for student affairs and the former school principal – the director-general of education, and the government guilty parties in the civil suit filed by the victim’s 50 year-old father, Ahmad Fauzi Abdullah on April 2, 2017.

They were all ordered to pay the judgment amount.

Zainal Azaman in his judgment found the school was negligent in the bullying which took place on April 26, 2015, as he said the act was planned as it had taken place in the chief prefect’s dormitory.

He also said he found the senior assistant for student affairs and the former principal negligent in carrying out their responsibilities in taking care of the students’ welfare.

The victim, who had filed a RM2 million exemplary and aggravated damages claim, claimed the injuries he suffered from the bullying had prevented him from taking part in water-based activities for life.

He said he also suffered emotional stress and trauma until he was forced to transfer to another school in 2015. – September 30, 2019.