Gina is 12 years old and her Mom had died the previous year. She found it really hard to concentrate at school as she kept remembering how much her Mom had suffered before she died. One day Gina found it very hard to focus in class. As a result she was physically abused by her teacher at school - on one occasion so badly that she required stitches in her head from the local hospital. Her father, Sipho, laid charges at the local police station and found out that the teacher had abused other children in the class - also very severely.

The police were not really interested in opening a docket as they had other 'urgent crimes' to attend to. Father telephoned the Childline Crisis line for advice - did he have the right to lay charges of assault on behalf of his daughter and if so how could he persuade the police to take the report of the assault seriously? 

The Counsellor advised father on the steps he should follow at his local police station and the importance of going back to the hospital to ensure that the doctor who examined and treated his daughter completed a report on her injuries.

Father followed these steps and then telephone Childline again to say that the teacher had offered him a payment to withdraw the charges. The counsellor discussed this with him and he decided to carry on with the case. He also mentioned that his daughter was still very traumatised and was too scared to return to school. She was depressed and withdrawn at home, and kept complaining of not feeling well even though the doctor said that she had physically recovered from the assault. 

The Counsellor invited Sipho to bring his daughter into the Childline therapy centre for trauma therapy. Gina loved the playroom and, over a few sessions, through play expressed her anger at the teacher, her fears about returning to school and was able to plan going back to school and how she would cope, manage her concentration problems and catch up with the work she had missed.

Several weeks later she reported to her therapy that she had gone back to school, was managing and had even done well in her end of term tests. She was still quite scared about having to go to court and testify against the teacher who had assaulted her.

Childline prepared her for Court, taught her how to relax and copy with anxiety in the Courtroom, and discussed with her who would be in court and what their role was. Gina found this fun  she thought a prosecutor was someone who chopped off your head! She laughed at herself when she realised how this person was really going to help her in Court, not hurt her. She learned how important it was to tell exactly what happened and how it was OK if there were some things that she could not remember clearly. 

Six months later the case was finalised in court. With the Medical evidence and Gina's testimony the assailant was convicted.

Gina is now happy at school, the incident has brought her a lot closer to her father, who was determined to make sure that his daughter would not be hurt again at school. Talking to the therapist at Childline also helped her manage with her sadness at the death of her Mom and this also helped her talk to her Dad about how she was feeling. Somehow sharing all those difficult feelings made it easier to cope!