SINGAPORE - A video showing at least four young female students from Assumption Pathway School ganging up and hitting a schoolmate with a toilet brush, has been making the rounds online, going by social media posts on Friday morning (April 13).
In the 29-second clip, believed to have been filmed on Thursday, the female victim is seen crouching on the floor with a trash bag over her body. One of the girls uses the brush to scrub her head.
As the victim - a special needs student - gets up, the bullies close in on her.
One pushes her against the wall and the same girl with the toilet brush uses the cleaning tool to scrub the victim's groin area, parts of her chest and her face.
The girls, who are seen laughing in the clip, also placed a toilet seat around the neck of their female victim. One of the bullies then flips the toilet seat up and down against her face a few times.
The clip was uploaded with text in Malay saying "we are busy bullying" this girl.
A police report was made on Friday by Ms Norashsikin Radzelee, 29, who said she first saw the video on Twitter.
Ms Norashsikin, a teacher, said she was outraged when she saw the clip. "As a parent myself, if this were to happen to my child, I would be upset and worked up."
Responding to queries from The Straits Times, Mr Eric Leong, the principal of Assumption Pathway School, said "the actions in the video are unacceptable".
He said the school has identified the offenders and taken disciplinary action against them. It is also providing "counselling and continued support" to the victim.
Mr Leong added: "We take a strong stand against bullying, and teach our students to care for others. We are also working with their parents to ensure that the offenders are made aware of the serious consequences of their behaviour, and that they will not repeat such behaviour."
The school, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Friday, takes in students who failed the Primary School Leaving Examinations.
On Friday, one of the alleged bullies apologised in a Facebook post.
She said: "This incident has caused a lot of pain and trouble to me and my family, as well as other party involved (sic). I am owning up to my mistake and truly regret it."
The incident follows a number of bullying cases this year.
In February, a video showing students from Westwood Secondary School punching and throwing a chair at a schoolmate went viral.
Last month (March), a video clip showing two girls slapping and kicking another girl also surfaced online.
