The Times - UK (2022-05-23)

the times | Monday May 23 2022 2GM 23

News

More than £85,000 has been raised for
a boy who had to have his finger ampu-
tated after he was attacked by racist
bullies.
Raheem Bailey, 11, was allegedly
pushed to the ground, beaten and kick-
ed by a group of children at his school
in south Wales on Tuesday. As he des-
perately tried to flee over a fence, his
finger got caught and was badly in-
jured, his mother Shantal Bailey said.
“After six hours of surgery to save it,
which was ultimately unsuccessful, his
finger had to be amputated,” she added.
The police are investigating the inci-

involved and carrying out an investi-

gation.”

Bailey said that she had contacted

the school, Abertillery Learning Com-

munity, on Monday to raise concerns

about Raheem being bullied. She said

she was reassured her concerns would

be handled by the following morning.

A spokesman for the school said: “We

are working closely with Gwent police

and the local authority to establish the

full details of the incident. The well-

being and safety of our pupils and staff

remains of paramount importance. We

will not be commenting further at this

time.”

Zahawi, 54, who was born in Iraq and

came to England as a child, told Sophy

Ridge on Sky News he was sickened by

Raheem’s ordeal and that “we always

need to do more” to prevent bullying.

“It’s a horrible thing and I am deter-

mined to stamp it out, as I am deter-

mined to stamp out antisemitism in our

schools or in our universities,” he said.

“There’s no place for racism anywhere

in our society, let alone in education.”

Gwent police said that it had been

called at 1pm the day after Raheem was

injured.

A spokesman said: “A multi-agency

meeting has taken place and we’re

working with the school as part of our

ongoing inquiries.”

Donations flood in for boy maimed fleeing bullies

Charlie Parker ent. Raheem’s mother said he had suf-
fered racial and physical abuse since he
started secondary school in September.
“Although he had mentioned a few
incidents of people being mean to him
recently, I did not realise the extent of
what he was going through,” she said.
She set up a GoFundMe page with
the aim of raising £10,000 to buy him a
prosthetic finger and help with any
additional costs of his recovery.
Within three days more than 6,000
people had donated more than
£86,000.
As the story gained prominence
Nadhim Zahawi, the education secre-
tary, condemned the treatment of Rah-

eem as “sickening”. The cabinet

minister told Sky News yesterday that

too he had been the victim of bullying

in his youth and was determined to

stamp out racism in schools.

The Welsh government also released

a statement, saying: “We condemn

bullying and racial harassment in any

form and expect allegations and inci-

dents of bullying and racism to be fully

investigated by schools with appropri-

ate action taken to address the matter

and prevent further instances from

happening.

“We understand this incident is being

investigated by the school and the local

authority, and that Gwent police are

Raheem Bailey, 11,

injured his finger

as he scrambled

over a fence

ROB BROWNE/WALES ONLINE

British geologist facing Iraq

execution wins more time

Anchal Vohra

An Iraqi court has postponed the trial

of a Briton and a German facing the

death penalty after being accused of

stealing ancient Iraqi artefacts.

Lawyers for Jim Fitton, 66, a

retired British geologist, and

Volker Waldman, a Ger-

man, asked for more in-

formation about the sig-

nificance of the shards

of pottery found in

their clients’ posses-

sion and the case was

postponed until June 6.

Fitton and Waldman

collected 12 stones and

shards on a recent visit to a

site in Eridu, an ancient Meso-

potamian city in southern Iraq.

They were arrested at Baghdad airport

on March 20.

Fitton has maintained that he was

not aware of Iraqi law and took the

items only as souvenirs and not to

smuggle out and sell for profit. Wald-

man’s lawyers said that he had been

merely carrying the fragments for

Fitton and had not taken them himself.

Furat Kubba, defending

Waldman, said in a court in

Baghdad yesterday that

more information was

needed about the im-

portance of the pie-

ces. A team of Iraqi

experts have ascer-

tained that the

items dated back

more than 200 years

and some are as small

as fingernails.

Fitton’s family is hopeful

of his return to his home in

Bath. Wera Hobhouse, their Liberal

Democrat MP, said that the family

would receive no further support from

the UK government. The Foreign

Office said Fitton’s case had been taken

up with the Iraqi authorities four times.

t, and

Ger-

n-

d

o a

Meso-

ern Iraq.

aghdad airport

Waldman

Baghd

mor

ne

po

ce

e

ta

ite

mo

and

as fin

Fitton

of his retur

Bath Wera Hobho

Jim Fitton and Volker Waldman are

accused of taking shards of pottery