PUTRAJAYA – The Federal Court today affirmed that a victim of bullying at a secondary school in Terengganu eight years ago, who suffered permanent ear damage, will be awarded over RM600,000.
The victim’s counsel, Nik Nur Syazwani Nik Suhaimi, said his client was awarded the damages after the apex court ruled that all nine respondents, including five former school students and four other respondents, were responsible and negligent in the incident of beating, bullying and attacking the victim.
“The Federal Court also unanimously upheld the Kuala Terengganu High Court’s decision and set aside the Court of Appeal’s decision. Therefore, all respondents are directed to pay compensation to the appellant,” the lawyer said when contacted today.
Yesterday, a three-judge panel comprising Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, and Federal Court judges Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan and Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil allowed the victim’s appeal in an online proceeding.
The bullying victim was represented by lawyers Wan Azliana Wan Adnan, Hisyam Yusof and Diyana Ibrahim, while all the respondents were represented by federal counsels Andi Razalijaya A. Dadi and Zureen Elina Mohd Dom.
On April 2, 2017, the boy, who was 14 when he was bullied, filed a suit through his father against five Form 5 students of the school as the first to fifth defendants. The victim is now 22.
The other defendants were the school’s senior assistant for student affairs and its principal, the Education Ministry director-general and the Malaysian government.
The victim claimed that he was beaten, bullied and attacked by the five senior students, resulting in a ruptured right eardrum.
The incident that occurred on April 26, 2015, left the victim with permanent disabilities and hearing loss, as well as severe trauma and emotional distress, leading him to undergo psychiatric treatment.
On September 29, 2019, the Kuala Terengganu High Court ordered all defendants to pay compensation amounting to RM616,634.20 after allowing the plaintiff’s suit.
High court judge Zainal Azman, in his judgment, found that the school was negligent in allowing the bullying to happen in the prefects’ dormitory.
However, on May 20, 2021, the Court of Appeal overturned the high court’s decision and ruled that the victim had failed to prove the liability of the five senior students who had beaten, bullied, and attacked him, while finding the other defendants not liable for the incident. – October 17, 2023