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- STOCKHOLM
(Reuters) - A Swedish
court set a precedent on Friday by awarding
damages to a student who was
so mercilessly bullied for being an
``outsider`` that she dropped out
of high school and left
town.
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- Johanna Rosenqvist, now 21, won 125,000 Swedish Crowns
($15,000) compensation for lost education and 179,000 crowns in legal
costs from the Grums local authority.
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- Karlstad district court agreed
that the school, Jattestensskolan,
had not done enough to stop the
bullying.
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- Rosenqvist`s lawyer said the case could lead to other
suits.
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- ``It gives other bullied pupils the right to hold their
local
authorities responsible,`` Ola Stervin said.
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- Rosenqvist`s nightmare began
in 1992 when she was 13
and moved to the school in Grums, 280 kms (170
miles) west of Stockholm.
She was quickly picked on.
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- The constant
bullying made her ill, physically and mentally,
and she took more and
more time off.
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- ``I had gastritis, migraines and depression,`` Rosenqvist
told
her local newspaper during the court case.
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- ``I was an outsider from the
first day. Every time they
saw me in the corridor they picked on me,
said I smelled and was stupid
and that I was ugly,`` Rosenqvist told
the court.
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- By spring 1995 she could take it no longer. She dropped
out of
school and her family moved 50 kms (30 miles) to Arvika.
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- She plans to go back
to school next year to complete
her education.
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- She had sought 671,000 crowns
($80,000) compensation.
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- ``This was totally unexpected. We are shocked,`` said
Anna Gustafsson, Grums local authority lawyer. ``We thought we would win
as the school had taken a lot of measures to help the girl.``
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