NIIGATA (TR) — A middle school boy here has been accused of severe bullying after tricking two younger students into eating a highly corrosive chemical by passing it off as a sweet, reports TV Asahi (May 4).
The incident took place after school in April of last year, when a third-year middle school student approached two second-year boys.
“It’s candy,” the older boy told them as he handed over a granular substance.
The two younger boys put the granules in their mouths but immediately spat them out in pain. The “candy” was in fact sodium hydroxide (lye), a hazardous chemical known to cause severe chemical burns upon contact with skin or mucous membranes.
Watching the victims react to the chemical, the perpetrator reportedly told them, “That’s a chemical we used in a science experiment, so you probably shouldn’t eat it.”
Last week, the local board of education officially certified the incident as a case of bullying (ijime).
According to the board’s report, the perpetrator acquired the chemical by defying a teacher’s instructions during a science experiment. The boy pocketed roughly five granules of the sodium hydroxide and later transferred them into an empty gummy candy bag to deceive his victims.
Both victims sustained chemical burns to the insides of their mouths. One boy required one week to fully heal, while the other took three weeks to recover from his injuries.
Following the incident, the school took disciplinary action by isolating the perpetrator, forcing him to attend his classes in a separate room away from other students.
