Frontier - 14. FR Chapter 14

“Please sit gentlemen, can I get you some tea or coffee?” I said to the two officers, as I made my way to the nearby bar, where there is a small urn heating up water. Once I had provided the officers with their request, I sat down with a cup of Earl Grey tea, which was my favourite, “We have come to let you know that, we have had a chat with the School counsellor, and both the principal and deputy, we feel that we have a strong case, to make the charges stick, and we have just finished formally charging all five boys with criminal assault, which is a more serious offence than assault causing bodily harm.

They were released on bail, to appear before the local Justice of the Peace in Jurien Bay at 10am on Monday, we have a sworn statement from the school counsellor, regarding each of their psychological behaviour, it so happens, that she is a qualified psychologist, so that will be of great benefit, we would like to get a victim’s impact statement from both of the boys, before Mondays hearing, to back up the school counsellors report.

We also suggest that you get the boys looked at by a doctor as soon as possible, that way they can’t squirm out of this easily” the officer said to me. I went indoors to the office, and returned a few minutes later, with the colour printouts of the photos of Jedd and Neale’s injuries, and I handed them over to the officer.

Once the officers had left, I called Jasper but his phone was not turned on, so I left a message to ask him to call me back, next I called the Jurien Bay Medical Practice, and I was able to get a late Saturday morning doctor’s appointment for tomorrow, for both boys. When Gramps returned with mum and the boys, I let them know of the visit from the police officers, and that I had organised doctor’s appointments for both boys at 11am tomorrow in Jurien Bay. Once I said goodbye to Gramps, we set off once again, this time heading south back to Jurien Bay, and we arrived shortly after dark.

Once we were moored, Mum served up a wonderful dinner for all of us, and they boys headed to their assigned twin guest cabin, as they were both tired from all the events of the day. I let mum know that I had assigned her the queen cabin, next to the boys, so she is close by to them, and after a short chat, she too retired for the night. I sent a quick text message to Simon, “Family staying on the yacht for whole weekend, I can pay for you to stay at motel, or you can come back to the yacht later tomorrow if you like, I will leave it up to you”, before I too headed to my cabin on the pontoon.

The next morning, I found that Simon had sent me a reply, “I will stay at the motel to Sunday afternoon, have fun with family, see you Sunday”. After we had eaten a late breakfast, the boys decided to just relax and play board games, so I retrieved the Monopoly, and we started up a game. When it was 11am, I asked the boys to go and change into some neater clothes, as it was almost time for their doctor’s appointment, and while they were downstairs, Mum came up to me.

“I am very proud of how you have dealt with all of this with the boys, you have been my saviour, I don’t know if I could have dealt with all of this on my own” she said to me, “Will you be joining us at the court hearing on Monday?” I asked her, and she frowned at first then smile, “yes, I will come along to support you” she replied.

When we came out of the doctor’s treatment room, we had a script for mild pain, plus a treatment form, to take to the neighbouring Medical centre, to have X-ray’s and ultrasound scans done on both boys, to check for any further internal damage. I explained that a report of the results would be needed for a court hearing on Monday, and so after a two hour wait, we finally were called to the doctor’s office.

“Mrs Harrington, your son Jedd has a hairline fracture to his fourth rib on the right, and bruising to his kidneys, so he will be feeling quite sore for at least a week, so I recommend that he stay at home for that time, your son Neale, has also got bruised kidneys, as well as to his spleen, we will need to keep a close eye on that, in case if ruptures” the doctor said to mum.

I was a little shocked at how serious the injuries were, and I made a mental note to contact the Leeman Police to update them on the medical check-up. When we had left the doctor’s surgery, we picked up the medication for both boys, and we made our way back to the trimaran, where I suggested to my brothers that they rest as much as possible, so as to not aggravate their injuries, and they decided to stay in the lounge room and watch movies.

I headed up to the fly bridge, where I gave the Leeman police a call, to let them know that the boy’s injuries were a lot more serious than just bruising, and I read out what was written on the medical report. I was asked to make sure that I bring this to the hearing on Monday, and to keep the boys away, since they are not well enough to attend. Shortly after I had ended the call, the phone rang, making me jump, and I saw from the caller ID that it was Jasper.

“Greetings from Rottnest Island” Jasper said to me happily, “His Jasper, I just wanted to update you on some events that I have discovered, I met your Aunt Julia, Principal of Leeman Primary, just yesterday. I have discovered that Jedd and Neale have been badly bullied in their first week at school, and we travelled up there yesterday afternoon to confront her about it.

She was shocked, and dealt with the situation in the correct manner, she had suspended the 5 boys concerned, and they are on a month of supervised detention, plus your colleagues at Leeman have charged all five of them with criminal assault. We have just come back from the medical centre at Jurien, and the injuries were a lot worse than previously thought, they have internal injuries as well, so we are monitoring them closely, Mum and the boys are staying with me on the yacht for the weekend, Simon is staying at a motel to stay away from Mum” I said to Jasper.

“Wow that is terrible news, I hope the boys recover from their injuries, I will be back on Thursday night, so I will catch you all then” Jasper replied, and after a short chat, we ended the call. When Simon returned after lunch time the next day, he stayed out of the galley to allow Suzanne, my mum to feed all of us, it I was pleased to see that no arguments erupted at all. On the Monday morning, Simon set off for his first day at Jurien Bay District High School, while I helped Mum and the boys to prepare for attending the court hearing.

We arrived at the courthouse, located next to the police station at 9.30, and the senior Leeman police officer was there already, chatting to a Senior sergeant, who I presumed was from Jurien Bay police. Anton, this is my district commanding officer, “so you have those two medical reports” the senior constable asked me when I approached them. I nodded my head and handed over the documents, which both men read, before they added it to the large file that they had.

Twenty minutes later, Mum, the boys and I followed the two police officers into the main court room, and a few minutes later a door opened, and we were told to stand, as Circuit Magistrate Alison Hargraves entered, and when told to sit, the senior constable turned to me, as I sat directly behind them. “We have a magistrate, instead of a Justice of the Peace, this could be a better outcome for us” he whispered to me, as the senior sergeant stood and announced the case and charges for the five boys, one aged 12 the others aged 11.

About half an hour later, after the medical reports, psychological report from the school counsellor, victim impact statements, and school principal’s report had been produced and read out, the defence lawyer stood up to reply to the charges. After just five minutes, the defence lawyer was told to sit down, informing him that there was sufficient evidence to support the charges, and with the prosecution providing all the required statements and reports, she was ready to announce a ruling of punishment.

The magistrate, announced that because of the seriousness of the charges, with supporting medical evidence, she found all five boys guilty of the charges, and sentenced them to a minimum of three month’s juvenile detention, with no early release. She also ordered the families of these boys to pay all medical costs, plus $1500 from each family, to each victim, plus an open criminal conviction.

By this time, the mothers of the 5 boys were crying and shouting “no, this cannot happen”, as their boys were lead away to the police cells, till they are sent to Perth. The police officers explained to us, that because she was a magistrate and not a Justice of the Peace she had more, wide ranging powers for sentencing, and that the five lads were given the near minimum length of time to be served in detention. Once out of the courthouse, I suggested to Mum, that we go to the District high school nearby, so the boys and I could be enrolled into school. Since it was only a block away, we reached the school in a few minutes, and we went directly to the administration centre.

“My name is Anton Hamilton, I believe my grandfather has enrolled me into this school” I said to the receptionist, and moments later she had the required information in front of her. “Yes, you are still enrolled, and a note has been added to say that you will be delayed starting due to family matters” the receptionist announced, “Yes that is right, but I can now start school from tomorrow. These are my half-brothers, Neale and Jedd Wallis, aged 8 and 6 years, they are transferring from Leeman Primary, but due to medical reasons, they can’t start school till next week” I added.

Ten minutes later, all of the paper work had been completed and handed over to the administrator, along with the boy’s school records from Leeming and from New Zealand, “Excuse me, it says here that the boys have been at Leeming Primary for just one week, why are they transferring after just one week?” the administrator asked Mum, who turned to me to answer the question. “That would because they were both victims of bullying at the school, which has resulted in the court appearance here in Jurien this morning, as the five culprits have been sent to detention for three months.

It is why my brothers can’t start school for another week, until their injuries have settled, I hope that you have a No Bullying policy at this school, or we will be taking them out of school to do home schooling if I find any evidence of it happening here” I said to the lady. “I can assure you Anton, that we keep a close eye on all students during the morning and lunch time breaks, and swift action has been taken, when it has happened” she replied.

Once we had finished at the school, we headed to the shopping centre to do some school shopping for the boys, and an hour later we arrived at the yacht, where Simon was waiting for us. “Was that you that I saw leaving the school this afternoon?” he asked us as we stepped on board the yacht, “Yes, we just finished enrolling my brothers at the school, and letting them know that I will be starting school tomorrow, so how was your first day?” I replied to my good friend.

“Not too bad, some of the guys in year 11 are real jerks, and there are a couple of year 9’s that like to cause some trouble, I reported it to admin, and they said they will keep an eye on them: Simon replied, “I have an idea I want to discuss with you later, that may sort out some of these troubles, we can chat about after dinner” I said to Simon, who announced that he had some homework to do, so he headed down to the master guest cabin, which has a desk, where he could study without being disturbed.

The next morning, I was awake at 7am, and I banged on the cabin wall, to make sure that Simon was also awake, “I hear you and I am awake and up” I heard Simon say from the adjoining cabin, and after a shower and dressed in smart casual clothes, I made my way over to the main deck, where mum had prepared and served breakfast in the formal dining room, as it was a little cool and drizzling a little outside.

Neale and Jedd appeared just as Simon and I were preparing to head off to school at 0745, and we said good morning to them, as we left the yacht, just as a vehicle arrived, which was Gramps. “Good morning Gramps” I said to him as he climbed out of the vehicle and moved to the back tray, and as we approached, we found two brand new mountain bikes there. “Wow, are these for us?” Simon asked, as he and I unloaded them from the back of the vehicle, “They sure are, and I have helmets and bike chains in this bag” Gramps said as he picked up the bag on the back tray and handed it to me.

We thanked Gramps for the gifts, and with the chains and locks placed in our backpacks, and helmets on our heads, we headed off to school, arriving about 8 minutes later, and Simon directed me to the school bike racks, were we locked up our bikes and headed to the admin building, to pick up my class timetable. “Good morning Mr Adamson and Mr Hamilton, I have your class time table for you Anton” a man I presumed was a senior staff member, “That is Mr Langton, the deputy principal”, Simon whispered to me as we approached the counter.

“As you requested yesterday, you have all the subjects that you wanted, with only two or three classes a day with your friend Simon, also there is your locker number, and a list of text books that you need, Simon will show you where to collect them from” Mr Langton said to me, I thanked him for his assistance, and we headed out of the building. Simon looked at my timetable, and he smiled.

“You are only four lockers away from mine, let me show you were it is then we have time to get your text books before the first bell” Simon said, and I followed him as he picked up walking speed down a passageway, between some buildings. I placed my backpack and bike helmet into my new locker and closed it, and we went towards the library, where the bookshop is located right next to it. Once I had a full armful of books, we headed back to the locker, were I deposited most of my books, I then emptied my backpack of most of the files, and placed the two text books that I would need for the first two classes, Chemistry followed by Literature, with Simon being in the same class for the second class.

“Man, you have one very full timetable, are you sure you can handle all of that? Simon said to me as we headed to our first class for the day, “Yep, at my previous schools, I was able to get average high grades in all subjects, even last year, when we were in the same school I had B+ as my average grade for all subjects. Now that I have a yacht, and interested in Marine science, I am taking a couple extra classes, to help me in those areas” I replied.

We split to go to our classes, and as I stepped into the classroom, just a few minutes before the first bells, I could see about 25 seats for students, and the teachers desk was in the front corner near the window, I found a vacant seat in the second row, and near the middle, which I sat down in. About fifteen other students were in the room, and I looked around to see a half and half mix of male to female.

Moments after the first bell rang, a teacher stepped into the room, and walked over to his desk, placing a suitcase onto it, before facing the class, which went silent very quickly. “Good morning class, I believe we have another new student” the teacher said, and I stood up, “Yes sir, I am Anton Hamilton, originally from the city” I responded. “Very good Mr Hamilton, take a seat” the teacher said to me, and he began the day with a roll call, to make sure everyone was present, and there was two absent today.

When the end of class bell sounded, I went looking for my second class, and I eventually found it, just seconds before the second bell. “Sorry about being late Ma’am, I had trouble finding the classroom” I said to the Literature teacher as I entered. “Mr Hamilton, I presume?” she said to me, “That is correct Ma’am” I replied politely, “Very well, find a seat please, and let’s get started” the teacher said to me, and I sat in a vacant seat near the front.

When the bell sounded for the end of class, I quickly made my way to the senior’s locker area, Simon had explained to me last night, that there was an area for year 8 to 10 students, and another area for years 11 & 12.

As we reached the lockers a small group was gathered there, “Guys, this is my good friend, Anton Hamilton, our grandfathers are best friends too” Simon said to the small crowd, and after shaking hands with five other guys, two who I recognised from our Chemistry class, we wandered over to a small shaded lawn area, and we sat down on the grass, which was a little damp.