Eight convicted of bullying boy who killed himself

13 May 2005

SAN SEBASTIAN — Eight school pupils are convicted of bullying a teenager who killed himself after a year-long campaign of insults and attacks.

Jokin Ceberio, 14, killed himself in September last year in Hondarribia, in the Basque Country, north-west Spain.

He had been tormented for over a year before he took his own life.

Seven boys and a girl, who were at the same school with the teenager, were found guilty of abusing Ceberio after a trial in San Sebastian.

They were released but must report on a regular basis to police for 18 months.

Four of them must also serve three weekends in an education centre.

But Ceberio’s family attacked the sentence for being “too lenient” because it failed to take into account his mental suffering.

Miguel Angel Ceberio, Ceberio’s uncle, claimed the group of his nephew’s former school mates had caused his death.

The trial heard how Ceberio had been attacked physically and tormented with insults by the group.

The accused admitted that days before he killed himself, they had subjected him to insults.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news