Mother Confronted Her Daughter's Bullies - Now She Must Pay Them

RIMBO - For several years her daughter was bullied, harassed and hit at school. Despite repeated pleas to staff, her mother Ramona felt nothing ever happened.

In the end she had had enough - of the Arab boys' treatment of her daughter, and of a school she says never dared confront the parents responsible.

When her daughter came home crying yet again, she took matters into her own hands. It ended with a conviction for three counts of unlawful threats, a 7,000-kronor fine and 30,000 kronor in damages. But according to Ramona, the bullying stopped the moment she stepped in.

On 23 October 2025, Ramona went to Bålbro School in Rimbo, in Norrtälje municipality north of Stockholm. Her daughter had come home upset and in tears once more.

She says it was the culmination of years of trouble. Her daughter had been teased, frozen out and physically attacked by other pupils.

"She made up excuses. My stomach hurts, my head hurts, I can't go to school today. And then when I talked to her and dug a bit deeper, she said there are boys who bully her and tease her," Ramona told Samnytt.

"Sometimes they hit her. Once she was kicked in the back so hard it hurt for maybe a week."

"Nothing happened"

Ramona says she contacted school staff again and again. She wanted to meet the parents of the children she believed were targeting her daughter.

"I talked to them not just once but more times than I can count. Nothing happened. I never got the meeting with the children's parents that I wanted."

According to Ramona, a teacher told her such a meeting was pointless because the parents would only defend their own children.

The police investigation also describes long-running conflicts in the class. The deputy head teacher said the girl had felt targeted and left out, but also said the school had been working on the situation.

READ ALSO: She Left Islam - Then Faced Religious Bullying at Swedish Language School

Confrontation on the football pitch

When her daughter came home crying again, Ramona went to the school herself. About fifteen children were on the football pitch.

She says she raised her voice and demanded an end to the treatment of her daughter, but denies threatening anyone.

"I was sad, I was angry, I was upset, I was everything. The day before they had been at my daughter too."

"I said: Right, boys, this has to stop now. I'm so tired of this. I didn't threaten them. I shouted, yes, that's true. But I didn't say I would hit them."

The incident was reported to police and led to charges of unlawful threats against three boys with Arabic-sounding names, all around nine years old at the time. Samnytt is not naming the children because of their age.

The boys said Ramona had threatened to hit them. The investigation also contained claims that she used a racial slur. She denies both.

"I'm not Swedish myself either. Why would I call people that?"

Fined and ordered to pay damages

On 27 October 2026, Norrtälje District Court convicted Ramona of three counts of unlawful threats. She was fined 140 day-fines of 50 kronor, 7,000 kronor in total.

She must also pay 10,000 kronor in damages to each of the three boys - 30,000 kronor altogether - plus 1,000 kronor to the national Crime Victim Fund and interest on the damages.

The court found it proven that she had threatened to hit the boys and had used the slur described by witnesses. It did not find it proven that she acted out of racist motives.

Instead, the court said she acted over the conflict around her daughter. It judged the threats as relatively mild, but took a serious view of an adult directing them at small children on school grounds.

"I didn't threaten them. I would never threaten a small child," Ramona said. "Why did they get damages?"

She feels the case came to be entirely about her own behaviour, while what triggered it - her daughter's years of misery - was pushed aside.

"The bullying stopped straight away"

Despite the conviction, Ramona says her intervention achieved what years of contact with the school never did.

"The bullying stopped after I went to the school. It stopped right after that."

She also says her daughter had told her that other pupils had previously threatened children with a knife. Samnytt has not been able to confirm that claim from the available documents.

Her daughter has since changed schools, though Ramona stresses the move was not a direct result of the incident.

"I would do it again"

Since the verdict, Ramona says she has received support from people who have heard her story, which has meant a lot to her daughter. The local newspaper Norrtelje Tidning has also reported on the support for her.

"When she heard that people are on our side, she was really comforted."

Asked whether she would step in the same way again, she does not hesitate.

"I would do it again. But differently. I would record everything, so that I'm not wrongly convicted."

"If my child bullied someone at school, I would talk to my child. And to the school staff too. It's no small thing."

Samnytt reached the deputy head teacher at Bålbro School by phone. She declined to answer questions over the phone and asked for them to be sent by email. Samnytt has done so and is awaiting a reply.