Schoolboy with dairy allergy dies after bullies ‘flick cheese in his face’
A 13-year-old school boy with a severe allergy to dairy died after a bully allegedly exposed him to cheese by ‘flicking it in his mouth.’
The student, Karan Cheema, told staff at William Perkin Church of England High School, UK, that he needed help before an ambulance was called and he was rushed to hospital. He died in intensive care 11 days later.
His heartbroken parents are now demanding answers as to how their son died from an allergic reaction, after all the care they had taken.
‘My son had allergies but he was very careful. He had an allergy to dairy products but was good at avoiding them,’ his father, Amarjeet Cheema, 53, told the Evening Standard.
‘I don’t how a piece of cheese hitting him could have killed him, it doesn’t make any sense. We have been told very little.
‘We were in hospital I had to watch him die, no parent should have to go through that.'
Karan’s mother, Rina, said: 'What exactly happened I do not know, but if anyone was to sit next to him with something he was allergic to he would tell them, he wasn't shy about saying what we could have.’
Headteacher of the prestigious school, Dame Alice Hudson, said the school was aware of his allergies and was prepared for emergencies.
‘He had a full care plan all the normal steps you would expect with a child with an allergy were in place. We provided these medications and they were delivered,’ she said.
‘Everything that should have been done was done. Very, very tragically in this situation this was not effective.’
On the day that Karan was rushed to hospital, a fellow student at the school Tweeted:
‘How can two idiots in my school stuff cheese down someone's throat - KNOWING that they're allergic to it, where's the logic’.
Adding: 'The ambulance and POLICE had to be called... he's in intensive care now.'
DailyMail report other witnesses as saying that they were playing and cheese was flicked at Karan, hitting him in the mouth. Another said it was put down his shirt.
The incident marks another case of a terrifying trend in which children with allergies are being bullied and deliberately exposed their triggers - which for some students, like Karan, could prove deadly.
A fellow student, also 13, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, reports the Evening Standard.
