Is Quaden Bayles, The 9-Year-Old Bullied Schoolboy With Dwarfism An 18-Year-Old?
Yesterday we reported the story of a nine-year-old schoolboy Quaden Bayles who was being bullied at school because of his dwarfism.
A heartbreaking was shared by his mother, Yarakka Bayles in which the child is in tears and asks for a knife to kill himself.
After the video went viral, celebrities and people on the internet rallied around him to show him emotional and financial support. Comedian Brad Williams set up a GoFundMe for Quaden and quickly rose more than $300,000.
A twist soon emerged to the story as it was soon claimed by some quarters that Quaden is a scam as he is actually an 18-year-old.
Quaden’s accusers offered as proof a photograph of the 9-year-old boy standing next to the number 18. Other photographs supposedly showing the 9-year-old boy in more “adult” poses were also spread online.
It is arguable that standing next to a number 18 does not make one that age and neither does standing next to adult women a right exclusively reserved for 18-year-olds.
Another ‘proof’ offered by the netizens is a photograph of Quaden in a shirt that reads ‘Gucci.’
These photos were all from Quaden’s previously public Instagram account but a check shows that the photograph of 18 is one of several that he shared from his friend, Garlen’s birthday party.
One of these photos had a birthday message for Garlen and not Quaden thereby laying to rest that it was Quaden’s birthday.
Another check that puts another hole into the accusation that Quaden is 18 is that this is not the first time he has made the news. In 2015, the child was in the news due to a previous bullying incident.
There is a video report from the Australian news station Studio 10 featuring a then 4-year-old Quaden:
Although Bayles may look like an 18-year-old now, it is arguable that the 4-year-old in the above video can pass for 13.
Lastly, Quaden’s mother Yarraka has posted dozens of pictures of him over the years to her social media accounts. In 2012, she shared a series of photographs that showed her infant son on the beach. She commented on those photographs that her son was going on 15 months old.
If Quaden Bayles was truly 18 years old in February 2020, that would make him about 11 in the 2012 photographs. But that certainly isn’t the case.
So is Quaden truly an 18-year-old or do the accusers have their facts wrong?
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