Autistic boy, 11, tries to kill himself after he was repeatedly hit on the head with a metal pole by bullies in school
An autistic teen tried to kill himself after he was left suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following a brutal attack by bullies where he was beaten and left battered.
Jake Warfield, now 14, was just 11-years-old in December 2016 when a group at his school, the de Ferrers Academy in Harehedge Lane, Burton, set upon him for no other reason than the fact that he was autistic, and attacked him with a metal pole with a hook at its end, according to the Derby Telegraph.
The attack left him bleeding from just underneath the eye, as well as with serious injuries to his head, arms, knees, and shoulder, with his mom Diane revealing that the incident had a lasting impact which they feel to this day.
"It was back in December 2016 when I got the call that Jake had been hurt," she said. "He had been dealing with bullies for a few months and I was getting to the point where I didn’t want him to even go to school."
"It was the last day of term. When I got to the school and saw him he burst into tears and I did too," she continued. "A group of boys had attacked him in school and he had blood pouring underneath his eye. He was hit with a metal bar which had a hook on the end of it and he was struck 12 times. His head was physically misshapen. He was inconsolable."
The bullies were expelled from the school but the damage had been done. In the months that followed, Jake missed a significant chunk of the schooling year, was diagnosed with PTSD, suffered from anxiety, had a mental breakdown, and attempted to take his life.
"He was reliving it in his sleep, crying and begging for help - it was just heartbreaking to see," Diane revealed. "Jake is autistic, so it is hard for him to communicate the way he is feeling, but after two years of counseling he is still not right. He has really bad anxiety and he is scarred for life, with scars on his face, shoulder, and knee."
She said watching her son suffer like that "broke her" and that he's still struggling to cope. "He can’t go out on the streets on his own because he doesn’t feel safe unless he is with someone," she said. "We can’t go on holiday because he can’t deal with groups of people. He is scared, absolutely petrified and he will never be the same. This is what he has been left with."
Now, the mother-of-three is joining other parents whose children have suffered bullying and will be sharing her story in a bid to influence lawmakers to impose stricter penalties on those found guilty of the offense.
"We want to try and get some laws changed to stop bullying because it needs to stop," she said. "It is still going on in schools everywhere up and down the country and we want to stop others from going through what we have been through. People are taking their lives because of bullies. It is not acceptable."