A Black schoolboy who lost his finger “fleeing bullies” was called the N-word among other slurs in the weeks leading up to the attack, his mother has said.
Raheem Bailey, 11, was allegedly beaten by a group of children at school on Tuesday and broke his finger while climbing a fence to escape his tormentors, Shantal Bailey said. It later had to be amputated.
Police are now investigating a report of an assault on Raheem at the secondary school, and the school trust has closed all of its campuses on Monday.
Ms Bailey, 28, said her son had faced “racial and physical abuse” since he started secondary school at Abertillery Learning Community in South Wales in September.
Speaking to The Independent, the mother-of-four said Raheem is struggling to cope with his ordeal and the family are taking things “one day at a time”.
“Raheem, he’s up and down, and has gone through so many different stages. He keeps on asking me ‘mummy, is this real?’,” she said.
“When we were at the hospital, the whole time (he was) telling me ‘I’m sorry, mummy. I just couldn’t stay there; why does no-one like me?’ Ms Bailey said. “These are things that my child, in his agony, is constantly having to ask me”.
The Wales resident explained how she is trying to prepare him for hard days ahead. “What I didn’t want to do is lie to him or soften it because that will make things worse when he realises the extent of things,” she added.
“I just made him understand that no matter what, Mummy’s here and will always make sure he’s okay and we’re going to be fine as a family – but it’s hard.”
Ms Bailey revealed that Raheem had been called the N-word ahead of the incident and told that he “comes from a poor country” even though he was born in the UK, in addition to being teased about his Afro hair texture, height and overall appearance.
“I just don’t get how this is happening in 2022. I am baffled how this is happening when we are all human beings, regardless of different skin colour,” she continued. “It is sad that Black people have to teach our children that some people won’t like them just because they’re Black.”
Ms Bailey said she complained to school staff on Monday after Raheem called her in tears, saying he was threatened with detention, despite him being the victim of bullying. She said the school advised that the matter would be dealt with by the following morning. It was later on that Raheem’s mother learned from her son that he had been beaten that day too.
Then, on Tuesday, Raheem was beaten again by a group of children at morning break time despite teachers’ reassurances, his mother said, resulting in the life-changing injury that he sustained.
In his desperation to escape the situation, Raheem attempted to flee the school grounds but caught his finger in a fence, resulting in his finger breaking in two.
“My son was suffering to the point where the only option that he felt he had was to run from school which is meant to be a safe space. Teachers should’ve been checking on him especially given that I was there on Monday,” Ms Bailey said.
Staff members at the school informed Ms Bailey of the incident and advised that an ambulance wouldn’t arrive for two hours so they were taken to A&E in the school bus and dropped at a minor injuries unit, “despite them knowing that his injury was severe,” Ms Bailey explained in a now-viral Instagram post on Thursday.
With her other infant son in arms, Ms Bailey spent the next five hours waiting for an ambulance to transfer Raheem to the location where he would undergo surgery, in Swansea, 50 miles away from his home and school.
”The teachers went home to their families while I sat there watching my child in agony and almost having to take myself out of the role of just being mum to being carer, coaching him on breathing, trying to get him to calm down – while trying to be at peace with what’s happening, trusting in God and coming to terms with the fact that he’s likely to lose his finger,” she said.
“Then I had to explain that to my 11 year old boy.”
Raheem has been sent messages of support by sports stars including boxer Anthony Joshua and footballer Jadon Sancho (Family handout/PA)
