Richmond ninth grade student assaulted at school, RCMP investigate

Editor’s note: This story contains graphic content detailing an assault of a minor.

A grade nine girl has been left with a swollen face, blackened eye and a concussion, following an alleged assault at her Richmond Secondary School on Thursday.

Janice Xie says after finishing a class at Hugh Boyd Secondary, she was walking into the cafeteria for lunch, when a student she calls “a friend of a friend” pushed her.

The 14-year-old says she tried to walk away to avoid the 17-year-old boy, but Xie claims the eleventh grader was relentless.

“Right before he was screaming and shouting at me and then he said all Asians are ugly and he hates all Asians,” she recalls.

Then she remembers a punch, and that’s when she blacked out.

“My friends tell me he went on top of me and punched me. My friends were trying to get him off of me but couldn’t. And he started kicking me and punching me, and that’s when my head apparently hit the wall.”

Xie says she repeatedly blacked out and came to during the assault, until at one point she was surrounded by teachers and friends trying to get the situation under control.

According to Xie, she believes she was attacked because the boy was convinced Xie had spread a rumour about him liking a girl, but Xie maintains she did not.

“He thought I told a girl that he liked her but I didn’t. He was really convinced that I told her but I don’t understand why he would think that because I’ve never talked to him before.”

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Paramedics eventually arrived and took Xie to the hospital where she was treated for a concussion.

“I think [paramedics] came because my friends claim he was still went on top of me and he still kept punching me after I was knocked out. Once they did get him off, apparently he tried to come back and start kicking me,” Xie explained to CityNews.

According to Xie’s father, Tim Sorensen, it wasn’t until Xie’s friends texted her mother to tell her Xie had been assaulted and taken to the hospital that they found out what happened to their daughter.

“When I arrived and saw my daughter on the floor, and it looked like she was having trouble breathing, I said ‘What the hell?'” says Sorensen.

According to Richmond School District No. 38, administration attended to the assault immediately, despite not contacting Xie’s parents.

“A student immediately called the parents and notified the school administration that she had done so. The school administration continued to attend to the incident,” the emailed statement read.

Xie’s father says he worries the lack of protocol of notifying parents could have exacerbated an already dire situation.

“I am concerned that if this happens to someone else, if it was life threatening what would have happened? When we were contacted by her friend, I believe it was like 45 to an hour after.”

The family has pressed charges, and RCMP is investigating the attack. In a statement to CityNews, Richmond Mounties say they are working with the school district to investigate the assault however, they cannot release any information about the accused 17-year-old assailant as per the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The district confirmed to CityNews the 17-year-old-boy is not attending school however, it is unclear whether he has been suspended or expelled.

Although Xie is still recovering from her injuries, she says she is not afraid to return to school.

“Due to my injuries, it hurts to eat. But I feel more comfortable going to school now because I talked to my friends and they said they would walk with me and they’d stay with me the whole day if I needed them to.”

– With files from Renee Bernard