KHON KAEN - A 13-year-old schoolboy who was a regular user of e-cigarettes has been moved to a boarding school after he was repeatedly assaulted by a 16-year-old boy for breaking the latter’s vaper.
The decision was reached after a two-hour meeting at Watjunprasit School in Ban Phai district on Thursday, said Satsilp Faisoon, the school director.
The grade 5 student, identified only as Oam, would be moved to another school to avoid his attacker, as his mother requested.
His mother said that she and her son would have to leave their rented room as well, because the assailant was a gang member and lived next door.
Mr Satsilp said the meeting on Thursday included school management, psychologists and administrative officials. It was held after videos surfaced showing Oam being repeatedly assaulted while kneeling for allegedly using and breaking a vaper belonging to a 16-year-old boy, identified as Lek. The latest clip was posted on Wednesday.
The school director said that Oam would be safer at the boarding school in Ban Hat district because outsiders were not allowed entry there.
The attacker was a former student at Watjunprasit School. The victim suffered bruises but there were no serious injuries, the director said.
The incident provided further evidence of the widespread use of e-cigarettes by teenagers, which has alarmed authorities to the point that Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra recently demanded a serious national crackdown on the illegal sale of vaping products.
The boy’s 40-year-old mother said on Thursday that she was shocked after seeing the videos, as her son had never told her about the assaults or his vaping habit.
She said her son told her that he had broken a vaper belonging to the 16-year-old boy and the latter demanded 300 baht in compensation for the device and another 300 baht as interest. When he failed to pay, the boy was assaulted.
The mother said she hoped her son could quit vaping at the boarding school and finish his high school education there.
Paeng, the stepsister of Lek, said his biological parents had died during his childhood and he had been using drugs since he was 14. He was also too aggressive to listen to advice from elder siblings, she said.
Thirteen-year-old Oam (right) kneels when he is about to be kicked by his 16-year-old attacker, in a video posted online. (Screenshot supplied)