A Queensland dad has landed himself in huge trouble after confronting his daughter's school bus bullies.
Gareth John Jackson didn't understand why his girls were so quiet when they arrived home each day. When he questioned them the 12 and 14 year old they admitted they'd become the target of two older boys who were bullying them each day. Being bullied on a bus musts be the worst kind of hell because there is no escape.
He decided to confront the bullies and give them a bit of a talking to.
On July 19 he arrived home just as the school bus dropped his daughter's off. He told his girls to hop in the car and proceeded to tail the school bus. He asked his children to point out the bullies to him as soon as they got off the bus.
What happened next has turned the table on this well-meaning dad.
The boys got off the bus at the Caltex service station at Yabulu. The 34-year-old dad said he'd only planned to talk to them to warn them off bullying his girls but after seeing the size of them, became outraged. They are aged 15 and 16.
He started by talking to the pair . He said something along the lines of, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size" before using an open palm to push one of the boys. He pushed him so hard the boy stumbled backwards and ended up stumbling backwards. He then used an open palm to push the other boy.
The dad has pleaded guilty to one count of common assault and one count of unlawful assault occasioning actual bodily harm in Townsville Magistrates Court yesterday. The court heard Jackson had no criminal history. He made a full admissions to police when they confronted him at his home on October 13. The court heard that he had been "very stressed and angry his children had been bullied".
Jackson had attempted to get the school to intervene in the bullying incidents. At one stage an apple was thrown at his daughter's head and the boys were also accused of doing burnouts outside the family home.
Magistrate Ross Mack said there were better ways to deal with bullying. "I say that in no way condoning the actions of these children. I understand your frustration and it is regrettable action was not taken (to deal with the bullying) earlier."
Jackson entered in to a $750 bond with no convictions recorded.
Have you ever been tempted to confront your child's bully?