Teenager viciously attacked in bullying incident says she 'feared for her life'

A teenager who was filmed being viciously attacked by two girls says she feared for her life during the incident.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Georgia Thomas-Peters told S4C’s Y Byd ar Bedwar how two bullies followed her to a field after school and repeatedly punched and kicked her in front of a large crowd of onlookers.

The incident, which took place a year ago this week, was filmed by fellow pupils from Ysgol Bro Morgannwg in Barry, and shared on social media platforms. The shocking footage went viral, with one video receiving more than three million online views.

“Everybody got their phones out and started filming before it even started” the 17-year-old said. “I just tried to cover my face and my body as much as possible.”

The attack left her with injuries to her head and body. Georgia remembers one onlooker kneeling beside her and saying, “I think she’s dead.”

The two girls responsible for the attack were later expelled from Ysgol Bro Morgannwg and were given youth conditional cautions by the Barry Youth Panel. The school says it has since introduced measures to make it easier for pupils to report bullying to teachers.

Georgia is speaking out to mark Anti-Bullying Week, which aims to raise awareness about bullying.

The Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Professor Sally Holland, has called on the Welsh Government to do more to tackle the issue.

“Bullying isn’t a new problem in society but it has changed.” Prof Holland said.

She has called on the government to create a statutory definition of bullying, and to make it compulsory for schools to record all incidents of bullying.

Schools in Wales are currently responsible for creating their own anti-bullying policies and there is no legal obligation for them to keep a record of all bullying incidents.

Prof Holland said: “It’ll help them monitor whether all their anti-bullying policies are being effective or not. If they don’t monitor incidents then they won’t know if it’s being effective or not.”

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We will consider the recommendations of the Children’s Commissioner’s report alongside other evidence gathered to strengthen our approach to bullying.

“We do not tolerate any bullying in the Welsh education system. All schools in Wales must, by law, have a school behavior policy in place. Effective strategies to tackle bullyingshould be central to this policy and put into practice by everyone in the school.”

The full interviews can be seen on S4C’s Y Byd ar Bedwar at 9.30pm on Tuesday.