Malaga bullying assault: girl's parents alert others to early mental health warning signs following school assault
The family of a 13-year-old girl denounces school passivity after a physical attack revealed months of psychological harassment and ignored distress signals
The parents of the 13-year-old girl who was allegedly assaulted by four classmates on the school grounds in Malaga on 2 March blame themselves and the teachers.
They regret not "paying attention" to the early symptoms of her deteriorating mental health, which would have indicated that she was suffering at school.
At the same time, they strongly criticise the school for ignoring the matter and neglecting their daughter on the day of the incident. According to the girl's account, one teacher witnessed the assault and simply told the students to go home.
The Timeline of Harassment
Bullying is rarely an isolated event. In this case, the family identifies a clear progression:
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September 2025: Onset of verbal abuse, including gender-based insults and social isolation.
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Late 2025 - Early 2026: Manifestation of mental health symptoms (withdrawal, sadness, and requests to change schools).
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March 2, 2026: The physical assault, resulting in an anxiety attack and physical injuries.
Bullying rarely begins with a physical attack. In this case, it allegedly started back in September 2025, but it peaked with the assault at the beginning of March.
The victim's parents had noticed some changes in their daughter's behaviour, but they "downplayed" them, as they admit. "We saw her sad, she locked herself in her room and we didn't know why," the girl's father says. The teenager would sometimes confide in her mother and ask to change schools.
The parents trusted that if something was really happening at the school, the teachers would notice and report it, before it got serious. Despite this, the girl spent months hearing insults like "slut" and "you're going to become a prostitute".
Recognising early mental health red flags
The victim’s parents highlight several behavioral changes that were initially "downplayed" but are critical for parental awareness:
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Social Withdrawal: Locking herself in her room for extended periods.
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Persistent Sadness: A noticeable change in baseline temperament.
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School Avoidance: Explicit requests to change learning environments.
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Physical Symptoms: The culmination in a severe anxiety attack and inability to move.
On 2 March, her parents received a phone call that changed everything and revealed months of bullying. A friend of their daughter's called them and said that she had found the girl alone after school. "She told us that she was having an anxiety attack, sat on a bench on her way home, unable to move. That's when everything went through my head," the girl's father says.
After picking her up, he went to the school to ask for an explanation. The staff said that they would look into it more the next day, but assured him that the issue could be resolved with an apology. According to the father, the next day, the school staff were "assessing the information".
Although the parents have reported the case to the National Police and the regional ministry of education, they say they feel "helpless" in the face of injustice.
In addition, they don't understand how a teacher would not react appropriately. According to the complaint, the incident took place in the presence of a teacher. "My daughter asked the teacher for help when she was being beaten and he did nothing," the father says. The girl's testimony states that the teacher just told her to "wash her face". While the other students left the school without any consequences, she tried heading home alone, bleeding and anxious.
The girl has not returned to the school since the incident. Her parents criticise the school for not taking the adequate measures. "It's not fair that they go about their normal lives and my daughter has to stay at home and miss classes," the father says.
According to the family, nobody has taken any actions against the alleged bullies. Malaga's education delegation has reported that the school opened the anti-bullying protocol the day after the incident. Their aim is to determine whether there was "harassment prior to the assault".
For the parents, the "passivity" of the school and the regional government are clear. The only solution for their daughter's well-being at the moment is for her to change school, which they consider unfair.
As parents often do, however, they mostly blame themselves. "I regret many things, I regret not having spent more time asking her why she was like that," the father says, warning other parents to "insist" that their children share.
