Bullies Beat Boy With A Chain At Flin Flon School, Parents Say

The parents of a five-year-old from Flin Flon, Man. say bullies beat their son with a chain while he was left unsupervised on school grounds, but an official disputes some of the incident's details.

Mylene Robertson said on Facebook that her five-year-old son Seth was dropped off at Ecole McIsaac School ahead of the 1 p.m. bell before some older children tied him to a goalpost and attacked him with a necklace chain on Wednesday, Global News reported.

She said he was later released after some students in Grade 6 came by and the kids who allegedly detained him ran away.

Seth's father Rob Robertson had dropped him off before the 1 p.m. bell that day, said CBC News.

Normally, Rob would watch his son until the bell rang, but he had some yard work he wanted to finish at home, so he left earlier.

He told the network that, instead of going to class, Seth joined a group of older boys from another school before they started playing a "police game" in which he pretended to be a prisoner.

The boys allegedly wrapped the chain around his son's feet before some other students found them and released him at around 2:40 p.m.

Robertson said staff at the school should have checked to ensure all students had left the playground and returned to class.

"That wasn't the case here," he alleged. "I mean, he should know to go when the bell goes, but I don't know."

The school attempted to reach the Robertsons by phone, but Mylene was sleeping following a night shift, and Rob was outside when they called, said Global News.

When contacted at around 3 p.m., they were initially told that Seth had been found tied to a goal post. But the family later informed the RCMP about the incident, and officers told the family that he was never tied there.

The RCMP has confirmed that it is looking into the incident.

Blaine Veitch, the superintendent for the Flin Flon School Division, told the Reminder newspaper that Seth wasn't chained to a goal post, and that he had left the school grounds with other children for approximately one hour.

People searched the grounds for him that afternoon, he added.

"There were classes and camps outside doing greening and other work," Veitch said. "He wasn't on school grounds."

But Veitch did confirm that the kids came back to the school, and that there was an "incident between children."

Mylene said on her Facebook that the family moved to Flin Flon from Winnipeg "so our babies could be safe."

"This isn't bullying. This [is] just downright sick and makes me cringe knowing kids can do this," Global News quoted her saying.