KUALA LUMPUR – Schools are for learning and must be safe and conducive, be it residential or otherwise, said the Federal Court after reinstating the high court’s decision to grant damages of more than RM100,000 to a bully victim.
According to the unanimous judgement rendered by the apex court, schools, of any arrangement, are for learning, where a person is educated in the many disciplines and subjects, preparing them for responsibilities, choices, and positions in life.
The panel added that it goes without saying that schools, residential or otherwise, must be safe and conducive for the purposes intended.
“It is, therefore, only reasonable and fair, to expect that these places of learning, even if residential facilities are provided, are safe and conducive. In the case of residential schools, the responsibility would obviously be even wider and more extensive.
“’Bullying’ by whatever name or label and however carried out and by whosoever, unfortunately, continues to occur in what is supposed to be our safe havens of education. There is no distinction between residential and any type of school.
“Teachers owe a duty to the students to take reasonable care for the safety of the students. School teachers and other similar personnel are under a duty to supervise the students when they are within the school for the ultimate purpose of maintaining discipline, safety, and wellbeing of the students,” according to the judgement, which was read out by Federal Court judge Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan.
Other panellists were president of the Court of Appeal Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, and Federal Court judge Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.
In setting aside the Court of Appeal’s decision and reinstating the Kuala Terengganu High Court’s decision, the panel also declined to award any aggravated damages or to increase the award on exemplary damages.
However, they ordered the high court’s compensation to be reinstated, as well as RM150,000 costs.
The civil case came to light when a Sekolah Menengah Sains Sultan Mahmud (Sesma) student became the victim of bullying by his other five schoolmates.
The victim, who had filed the suit via his father, had named the five students who assaulted him, as well as the school’s senior student affairs assistant, the school’s headmaster, the Education Ministry director-general, and the government as the defendants in the suit.
The victim, who was 14 years old at the time of the assault, claimed to have been beaten and assaulted by his five schoolmates on April 26 and 27, 2015. He claimed that the incident, which took place at the Bilik Asrama Ketua Pengawas and Penolong Ketua Pengawas, had occurred at 10.40pm (on April 26) and lasted till 2pm the next day.
Due to the bullying incident, the victim suffered permanent injuries, where he had a perforated right ear and lost hearing of the affected ear. Apart from the ear, he also sustained injuries to his face and body.
However, he did not complain about the incident to anyone out of fear. The incident was made known to his family and the school’s management when he found out that he had lost his hearing.
His father then lodged a police report against the bullies on April 30 of the same year. Subsequently, almost a year later, on April 27, 2016, the five bullies were charged in Kuala Terengganu’s magistrate court, where they pleaded guilty and were given a good behaviour bond for two years, with a monetary surety of RM1,000.
Traumatised from the bullying incident, the victim was then transferred to another school. Prior to his transfer, the school’s representative called him and his family, offering them an RM1,000 payment to settle the case.
The victim rejected the offer. He then filed the suit at Kuala Terengganu’s High Court, where the court took the bully’s admission of guilt at the magistrate court as final and binding in finding them liable for the battery and assault.
And since the incident occurred within the residential’s schools premises, he also ruled that the remaining four defendants were liable for the bullies’ acts.
The high court then awarded general damages for the victim’s injuries sustained and special damages of RM4,634.20 together with interest and costs, as well as the sum of RM120,000 as exemplary damages. But the court made no order for aggravated damages.
The decision was then appealed by both the victims and all the defendants. The Court of Appeal then overturned the high court’s decision, as they ruled the lower court had erred in relying on the first five defendant’s (the bullies) admission of guilt (at magistrate court), where there was insufficient evidence to prove the assault.
The Court of Appeal also ruled that if the appellant was repeatedly punched, beaten, and hit, there would have been bruises or injuries on the appellant’s body and yet, none was found.
It set aside the costs of a hearing aid of RM252,000 for want of proof but in the next breath, proceeded to award a reduced sum of RM84,000 on account of 1/3 contingency.
The court also set aside the award of general and exemplary damages and refused to make any award for aggravated damages. – April 2, 2024