A school that admits three of the 'Roast Busters' were its pupils is defending its handling of its students' welfare.
Two pupils at Green Bay High School were named by the girl who formally complained to police about the actions of the Roast Buster.
Her mother says she complained to the school when one of the same boys later went on to confront and bully the girl on the premises. She wanted the boy expelled.
"The reaction was they couldn't expel the perpetrator because it was not on school grounds," she says.
She says she felt frustrated and angry at the response and her daughter – aged just 13 at the time – stopped going to school.
The final straw, she said, was being bullied on school grounds by the same boy, Beraiah Hales, because she'd gone to police.
"She just kept on getting bullied, sometimes she would go into the toilets, she was wagging, go into the toilets crying her eyes out, stay in there so no one could find her."
The school, she says, did nothing.
3 News asked Green Bay High School for an on-camera interview to discuss who knew what and when, and what was in place to support the students. But our request was declined and instead we got a statement from the school's principal, Morag Hutchinson, saying she had never heard of the term Roast Busters until 3 News broke the story on Sunday night.
She says she was aware of an incident at an out-of-school party which she was told about it in April 2012, and that Beraiah left the next month. She said the school co-operated fully with the police and tried to support the family concerned.
The victim's mother says that's not good enough.
"School's supposed to be a haven for children, a safe place - and it hasn't been."
She says Beraiah should have been expelled.
"Even when he was at intermediate with one of my other daughters and he was 10, she was 12, he locked her in a toilet and tried to rip off her clothes and do the same thing."
The school has now written to all parents, with the letter saying it's been a very difficult week.
3 News
source: newshub archive
