The woman’s 16-year-old son faced court on charges of affray after being in a fight organised at his school and for being in possession of cannabis.

The boy’s solicitor Gerry Stapleton told magistrate Terry Lucas the boy’s family had done all they could to keep their son on track, which included moving out of Orange to remove him from negative influences.

“He’s been part of a culture of bullying at school which has been mismanaged,” Mr Stapleton said.

“He comes from a good family with a stable environment,” he said.

“He’s a good boy despite what you see in the papers,” the woman told the magistrate.

“Our son is now in a grey area and its the same for many kids - things are not always black and white and all we want is the best for our son,” she said.

The mother said as her son is unable to return to high school because of the incidents which occurred, she had looked at enrolling him in an education program with students his own age run by a not-for- profit organisation.

“But we found there were boys that we want him to get away from,” she said.

“We’ve tried to get him into TAFE because we thought that was another option be we have been told he needs a special exemption and its just another blow to a kid who is on the back foot,” she said. Mr Lucas told the boy he had a chance to tell the court what was going on in his life.

“Why did you have the drugs,” Mr Lucas said.

“Just for my personal use,” the boy replied.

Mr Lucas told the boy being in possession of drugs even for personal use was illegal.

“You have to realise you are in the big boy department now - see that man in blue at the back of the court - he can take you out that door now to jail for 12 months,” Mr Lucas said.

He placed the boy on a bond for 12 months to be of good behaviour.

“It’s not rocket science - you just have to do the right thing,” he said.