Student suffers aneurysm following alleged schoolyard attack

A 15-year old student who was allegedly attacked in the schoolyard by a bully suffered a potentially-fatal aneurysm.

Channel 7 reported that Josh Lawrie, a student at St Dominic’s College, a Catholic school in Sydney’s Kingwood area, was allegedly punched from behind by another student even once he had fallen to the ground.

The beating is said to have only stopped once another boy intervened. The student accused of the attack has been suspended.

Following the incident last Monday Josh and his mother reported the incident to police and he was then taken to hospital to be checked out. The aneurysm was discovered during tests and scans. Mrs Lawrie has questioned why she was called to the school and took him to hospital rather than an ambulance being called. A triage nurse at Neapean Hospital was also surprised that emergency paramedics had not been summoned.

The injury is serious and Josh told Channel 7 that it had “wrecked his life” as it will mean an end to playing sports and medication for the rest of his life. The boy had to undergo brain surgery.

Police are investigating the incident having taken a number of statements. The school has reportedly not commented officially but someone at the school is reported to have said that there are two sides to the story.