Strangers raise £60,000 for boy whose finger was amputated after racist bullying

More than £60,000 has been raised for a schoolboy who had his finger amputated after fleeing from racist bullies.

Raheem Bailey, 11, needed surgery after getting his finger caught in a fence while running away from pupils at his school.

His heartbroken mum Shantal Bailey says her son had been facing ‘racial and physical abuse’ after starting at a new school in September last year.

She is now raising funds to buy Raheem a prosthetic finger and to help him on the road to recovery, and donations have been pouring in.

Shantal says her son had complained about people being ‘mean’ after starting at 1,600-pupil Abertillery Learning Community in Gwent, South Wales.

But the mum-of-four didn’t realise the extent of what he was going through until he called her on Tuesday morning ‘screaming in pain’.

She says Raheem was pushed to the ground by a group of pupils that day and repeatedly kicked and beaten.

He made a desperate attempt to leave he school grounds but ended up catching his finger in a fence.

After the upsetting call from Raheem, Shantal was then phoned by the school to let her know an ambulance was coming – but would take two hours to arrive.

Despite this, staff advised her not to drive her son to A&E herself. In the end, a school bus was used to take Raheem, his mum and little brother to a minor injuries unit – even though his wound was serious.

Shantal says they spent five hours waiting for an ambulance to take them to Swansea – 50 miles away from the school – where he would undergo surgery.

‘As time rolled on, it became more apparent that the possibility my son was going to lose his finger was a real one,’ she said.

‘The doctors then confirmed this was likely. I had to explain this to him while he sat there in agony.’

Shantal said she had complained to school staff just one day earlier, after Raheem said he was threatened with detention – even though he was the ‘one getting picked on’.

She said teachers had reassured her the matter would be dealt with by the following morning.

Now Shantal is focusing on her son’s recovery after he spent six hours in surgery as doctor’s battled to save his finger.

She added: ‘From the day of the incident until now Abertillery learning community have not reached out to me to check on his wellbeing. My son has got to live with this for the rest of his life.’

A spokesperson for Abertillery Learning Community said the school are working with police.

They said: ‘We are currently working closely with Gent Police and the local authority to establish the full details of the incident.

‘The well-being and safety of our pupils and staff remains of paramount importance. We will not be commenting further at this time.’

A spokesman for Gwent Police said: ‘We received a report of an incident at a school in Abertillery around 1pm on Wednesday, where an 11-year-old boy was injured.

‘A multi-agency meeting has taken place and we’re working with the school as part of our ongoing enquires.’

A Welsh government spokesperson said: ‘We condemn bullying and racial harassment in any form and expect allegations and incidents of bullying and racism to be fully investigated by schools with appropriate action taken to address the matter and prevent further instances from happening.

‘We understand that this incident is being investigated by the school and the local authority, and that Gwent Police are involved and carrying out an investigation.

‘As such, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.’

You can find the fundraising page for Raheem here.

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