DES MOINES, Iowa — As the trial of the Safris vs. Urbandale Schools lawsuit continued on Friday, the victim and her desk mates took the stand.

The Safris family filed a lawsuit against Urbandale Schools claiming failure to follow school policy led to their daughter being assault and harassed, and eventually becoming suicidal. The assaults are alleged to have happened during a middle school English class.

According to the lawsuit, the victim sent explicit photos to a male classmate, who then asked her out. After she refused, he began assaulting her and shared the photos with others in the school.

First to take the stand was Susin Bredice, a clinical social worker and therapist who provided group therapy for the Safris family. Bredice worked with the family hoping to help recreate and strengthen communication between the family. These sessions often became distressing for the victim, as she could no longer function or control her mind and body.

“At times (the victim) would visibly disassociate during sessions. I’ve seen her shake; I’ve seen her have psycho-motor agitation within her body when something became intolerable for her. She was often outside of what we would describe as the window of tolerance, which is an area in which we are functioning in our prefrontal cortex or our thinking brain,” said Bredice.

Two former classmates of the victim and the male classmate each took to the stand. These students both sat with the victim and the classmate. One of the classmates remembered seeing the male classmate place his hand on the victim’s thigh and remembers the explicit photos being shown during a different class. The other classmate remembers seeing the photos but says they never saw the male classmate touching the victim inappropriately.

The victim also provided her testimony. She told the jury that the photos were taken because she felt guilty about cancelling plans to go out with the male classmate and was convinced to take the photos to maintain the relationship. It was after she learned of his behavior with other female classmates that she decided she didn’t want to go out with him, and then the photos were spread around the school.

She says that she didn’t want to tell people because she felt as though she would be blamed as she took and sent the photos herself. She then told the jury about the male classmate’s anger towards her and later the assaults that reportedly took place in English class. After this she said she began to act out in small ways like vaping and shoplifting, saying it distracted her.

Next, she recounted her mental health journey and the path that was taken so that she could get help with her trauma and graduate school. This included short-term stays in the hospital, several long-term care facilities, a variety of medical interventions, and leaving her family and the state for a time. Finally, she talked about her life now and the ways the incident in eighth grade has permanently affected her.

The defense asked the victim about her life since graduating high school and what she was doing now. She said she was not able to be back in a classroom setting and eventually stopped attempting college classes. The victim was able to maintain a job in the service industry but was not able to handle a job in management. She now works as a bank teller and is working towards building a social life.

Jessica Brase, the victim’s current therapist, was the final person to take the stand Friday. Brase took over the victim’s care after she returned from her long-term care facility out of state. Brase and the victim have worked towards moving her into the future and what steps she needs to take to live a more normal life.

“I believe this is going to be something for [the victim] that is going to be a lifelong challenge. She has a diagnosis of bipolar II, that is a lifelong disorder, that will not go away, she needs to be treated for that. Secondly, the trauma, trauma is present throughout the course of a lifetime,” said Brase.

Brase also noted that the victim sometimes closes off and is not able to maintain regular conversations or regular tasks. In one instance, her family had asked her to load the dishwasher, but the victim doesn’t recollect being told to do so. Brase stated this is part of the family and therapist’s concerns about the victim’s future.

The end of this week marks the halfway point in the trial, with the court hopefully wrapping up at the end of next week. The court dismissed for the weekend and will resume on Monday, November 4.