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Two seven-year-old boys reportedly sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl at school after viewing porn on a mobile phone.

The incident happened in the playground of a Lutheran school in South Australia in the middle of last year.

Despite the severity of the assault, SA police said at the time they were ‘not in the position to manage or investigate the matter, nor to provide any formal intervention’.

Police said the incident was not reported to them at the time and because the boys were under ten-years old, they are unable to take any action, The Weekend Australian reported.

The girl has since left the school but the two boys remain.

Cyber-safety expert, Susan McLean, who spoke to the victim’s mother at a forum earlier this month is concerned about the incident.

Ms McLean said it was a ‘high level’ assault and that an intervention needed to happen despite the boys’ age.

‘It was totally swept under the carpet by the school’ she said.

Police have since said that they are asking questions and it is now an on-going investigation.

The case comes as acts of sexualised behaviour among minors are becoming more frequent.

As mobile phone devices become more popular among young children, so does the prevalence of readily-available pornographic content, which can be easily streamed within seconds of a simple Google search.

This has lead to a rise in child-on-child sexual assaults as children in the playground re-enact what they see online.

Ms McLean also raised another case in which a child from a SA government primary school was shown disturbing content by another student who had found porn using Google on a school device.

The student needed significant counselling after seeing the content.

State Education Minister John Gardner had recently stated that he was planning to strictly-enforce a higher-level of cyber-safety policies in all schools.

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  • This should have been reported to Department of Child Services (DOCS)? Was the girl taken to hospital at all? A 7 y.o. does not need a mobile phone, except maybe a very basic one for dire emergencies. All options should be switched off and only nominated numbers available for incoming or outgoing calls or texts. I know an 11 y.o. who was given one and it can only be used as listed above. The phone is handed in at the school office next to the entry gate and collected from the office as the pupil leaves the school grounds.

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  • I agree with others, that schools and parents need to be reporting to police and CPS when these incidents occur.
    I do not believe children need to have a mobile phone, however if parents do feel it necessary, there are plenty of inexpensive mobile phones without all of the functions other than being a phone!
    I am aware of one family who were shocked when their young son told of what another little child had shown classmates, by the descriptions it was obviously pornography. The parents went directly to the parents of the student with the phone and when questioned, the child had taken his older brothers phone to school. Phones came with locks so if adults can prevent anyone else gaining access. I have my phone and tablet locked, only because If I ever lose it, no one can gain access and use my data. Adults need to be held accountable for what their children have access to.

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  • What were the parents of the victim doing?! I would’ve gone to the police myself and reported it. Then I would have harassed the education department until they did something. This is 100% not acceptable

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  • How does this even get swept under the carpet. Schools that are not taking a ZERO tolerance stance are behind the times and need a good overhaul. They need to be able to adequately support children in curing issues and be a safe place for girls and boys alike. Never is this kind of behaviour ok inside or outside of school. The reinforces the message it is the girls fault always and men can get away with anything or the good old excuse “boys will, be boys “. It needs to be stomped out

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  • Poor little girl. Her family must be gutted.
    As far as the boys are concerned, where is the parental guidance. How can they access pornography at such a young age. Their home life needs to be investigated.

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  • Very concerning !
    Poor girl, how traumatic and damaging this incident would have been for her.
    Bizarre that such young boys have access to a mobile phone.
    And wrong the school tried to brush it under the carpet and the boys actions had no consequences.

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  • I’m confused … What are 7 year olds doing with mobile phones ? How can they easily acces this stuff ? and why was it ignored ??
    They need to be taught what is right and wrong … Especially this kind 0f behaviour. They will end up turning out to be possible sexual predators , through no fault of their own .. all because they werent steered in the right direction . I feel sorry for them .

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  • I agree the kids are too young to be punished. But they should definitely have to go through some type of counselling. I think their parents should be investigated.

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  • Sickening at such young age

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  • Disgusting, really. How can kids so young have access to porn sites????

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  • It starts so young and these children are being shown that they can do as they please and have no serious punishment.

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  • Something definitely should have been done. That’s disgusting. Poor little girl :(

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  • This happened to my daughter in grade one. One of her classmates had access to porn during lunchtime on his device regularly which then resulted in him assaulting my daughter. I was too shocked to demand police intervention but looking back now, I probably should have.

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  • At the very least these boys should receive counselling and need to be taught about consent, respect and how the body functions from a biological perspective. Their parents need to be monitoring them more closely if they were able to access that kind of content pnline. That poor little girl deserves to know that consequences happen for what was done to her and I hope she receives all the help and support she needs for now and in the future.

    Reply

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