Down's Boy Accused of Racist Attack, Exonerated Seven Months Later

Jamie Bauld, 18, a Down's Syndrome teenager from Scotland with a mental age of five, was accused of attacking an Asian girl-student at his special needs school.

Jamie Bauld, 18, a Down’s Syndrome teenager from Scotland with a mental age of five, was accused of attacking an Asian girl-student at his special needs school. The case was finally dropped more than seven months later.

Jamie’s parents Jim and Fiona Bauld described the seven months as "pure hell" and felt the complaint should never have been taken so seriously in the first place.

According to them, the incident that led to the allegation, took place at Motherwell College on September 4, 2007. Jamie’s mother, also his full time caregiver, said he had complained earlier about an Asian girl following him and staring at him.

When she approached Jamie on that ill-fated day during lunchtime, he pushed her away with his hand and told her to go away, said Jamie’s mother.

Jamie’s family that lives in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire thought the matter was closed when the college informed Jamie’s parents that he and the girl had been reprimanded over the incident.

Jamie’s parents later heard that a notice had been placed in a local newspaper calling for witnesses to a racial assault and soon after, two police officers came to interview Jamie.

A letter followed this to Jamie’s parents from the procurator fiscal saying they had enough evidence to charge their son with racial attack. It then took seven-and-a-half months for the charges to be dropped.

The family described the incident as "like two five-year-olds having an argument," that has been unnecessarily blown out of proportion. They felt the allegation was "nonsense" and insisted that Jamie had simply pushed the girl away as she approached him while eating lunch.

"It was pure hell for my wife. It has dragged on for eight months and we’re just delighted it’s over now. We just want to highlight it and let people see how ridiculous it was," said Jamie’s father.

"The whole thing was a nonsense from start to finish," Jim Bauld added. The parents criticized prosecutors over their handling of the incident.

Source-Medindia
THK/L