The mother of the Berkeley Institute student involved in last week's fight at Hamilton Bus Terminal claimed last night that her daughter had been suspended from school "without any reason".

The 14-year-old girl was seen hitting a female student from Warwick Academy last Thursday and was arrested on suspicion of assault when she attended Hamilton Police Station for questioning yesterday. She was bailed to return to the station at lunchtime today with a lawyer.

Her mother claims the schoolgirl, whom The Royal Gazette is not identifying, retaliated after being struck first and has been discriminated against by both the Police and the school. "She's not just going to stand there like a sissy," she said. "She fought back."

The 42-year-old, from Southampton, said her daughter should not have been suspended on Friday without a fair hearing or a parent in attendance and questioned why Police viewed her daughter as the assailant.

"We are not trusting in the situation right now because they have been treating her very unfairly. She has already been targeted as the bad person. She intends to file a complaint against the other party for assault."

The mother complained that her daughter was given no work to do during her week away from the classroom and hadn't been able to tell her side of the story.

"My daughter has been disciplined without any reason," she said. "It's very stressful for my daughter and I and we need our opinion to be heard."

The woman added: "My daughter came home on Thursday and said: 'This girl was hitting on me and the Police came'. I didn't think anything of it because that was the end of it. Two kids got into a scrap."

She said Police contacted her on Sunday and she received a message about her daughter being suspended from the deputy principal at Berkeley on Monday.

But, she added, she got a shock when she read Tuesday's edition of The Royal Gazette, which reported on an e-mail complaint sent to Berkeley by a member of the public who witnessed the fight.

The message — in which the person described how the Berkeley student "totally blindsided" the other girl, punching her in the face and pushing and shoving her as her schoolmates cheered — was circulated around the Island.

The complainant suggested discipline was non-existent at the secondary school; a view which prompted a robust response from Berkeley governor and Prisons Commissioner Eddie Lamb.

His reply, berating "mindless and ill-disciplined" parents who set a poor example for children, has provoked widespread debate in the community about the reasons for bad behaviour among youths.

The mother of the Berkeley Institute student said she had not yet been to the school to discuss the incident but felt the situation had been badly handled. "Everything has hit me like a bombshell," she said.

Her daughter claimed the Warwick student, also aged 14, hit her in the face at the bus terminal so she fought back.

"She scratched me on my face but it must have healed the next day," she said. "We ended up fighting after that. Really, I don't even remember everything but everyone came to me and was telling me.

"Apparently, she ended up losing to me. It's not that I necessarily beat her up but I ended up winning because a lot of people said that she didn't really get to hit me. Because she is the person with the injuries, she automatically gets favouritism in the whole situation."

The girl added that she did not answer questions from the Police yesterday as she did not have a lawyer present. "If I was to open my mouth and if it was to go to court, they would use it against me."

Calvin White, chairman of Berkeley's board of governors, said yesterday it would be inappropriate to comment on a matter under investigation.

He added that he was delighted so many people had responded positively to Lt. Col. Lamb's views. "I would hope that it goes beyond saying that 'this is right' and that people do actually get involved and do something about it."

Berkeley principal Michelle Simmons could not be contacted last night but shared her response to the e-mail complainant earlier this week. She told them the school took seriously its responsibility to insist on high standards of self-discipline, but that it also needed to be taught at home.

The mother of the Warwick student said yesterday: "I have no comment. It's court proceedings and I'm not able to speak to anybody about it."

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