Media coverage of school assault criticized
Counsel for defendants in lawsuit alleging anti-Semitic assault on Jewish student argues specifying location, Muslim faith of accused girl violates court-ordered publication ban
Editor’s note: The reporter covering this court proceeding became involved in it unexpectedly, given how it focused in part on news coverage. As such, this article cites statements made in court by the journalist who wrote this report.
A lawyer representing the parents of a Muslim girl being sued by a Jewish schoolmate for alleged assaults at their school in the spring claimed Tuesday news coverage of the case is going too far.
A Jewish girl attending Leo Hayes High School in Fredericton and her father, acting as her litigation guardian, filed a lawsuit in September in the Court of King’s Bench arguing alleged assaults by a Muslim student April 30 were motivated by anti-Semitism.
Named as defendants in the case were the Muslim girl, her parents, Anglophone West district education council (DEC) and an unknown man who witnessed one of the two encounters between the girls that occurred off school grounds.
The original notice of action and statement of claim named both girls, but on Sept. 27, lawyers representing the Muslim girl’s parents applied to the Court of King’s Bench for a publication and broadcast ban on information that would tend to identify their daughter.