9-year-old boy raped '100 times' by classmate, school botches up probe

A nine-year-old boy, who was allegedly raped by his 12-year-old schoolmate, could not get justice because the school botched up the investigation into the matter. The incident took place at Appletree Treatment Centre in Cumbria in 2006. The school caters to children who have been abused or neglected.

The victim later told his foster parents that he was sexually abused "maybe 100 times," by this 12-year-old classmate and by other students in school.

He also added that he did not think that his teachers would believe him so he could not share his ordeal with them, according to a probe conducted by the Crown Prosecution Service.

According to a report in The Sun, the boy had told his attacker to "stop and get off but he did not until he was left hurt and then managed to run away," the report said.

He said: "Essentially, from the day you're brought in there, you're essentially – you are the problem, you are the problem child. So, anything that comes out your mouth is rubbish."

The Crown Prosecution Service decided to take "no further action," into the matter despite having admissions from the accused himself. They stated that there were "discrepancies in the account." Their report stated that they could not take any action due to "the young ages and damaged backgrounds of the children involved."

It goes on to add that the school staff had already contaminated the evidence, and that the way the school carried out the probe, a court would have "thrown it out anyway if it had gone that far."

The matter came to light only after a staffer overheard a student accusing a classmate of sexually abusing a boy. However, "the matter was not immediately referred to the children's social care," per the independent inquiry. Instead, the children were first interviewed by the staff.

The 12-year-old alleged attacker is also said to have had a "chaotic and abusive" early life. He had earlier been excluded from a mainstream school for sexually abusing a five-year-old boy.

Clair Davies, principal of the school, said she was "very sorry for the sexual activity and sexual abuse that took place at Appletree."