A distraught mother whose daughter was “bullied to death” has revealed her horror at discovering her little girl was hiding in the school toilets to escape her tormentors.
Kelly O’Brien’s 12-year-old daughter Charlotte took her own life on September 9 after experiencing horrendous bullying at school.
Charlotte was bullied relentlessly by her classmates at Santa Sabina College in Strathfield, west of Sydney, where she had been a year seven student.
O’Brien has said she feels “very heartbroken” that her daughter was not taken out of school.
She also revealed that her 11-year-old niece knew about the bullying and immediately blamed ‘the bullies’ for her cousin’s death.
“Bonnie, who is her best friend and cousin, didn’t want to tell me because she didn’t want to hurt my feelings, the poor girl,” Mrs. O’Brien said. he told the Daily Telegraph.
“When she found out that Charlotte had taken her life, my family told me that Bonnie ran away screaming, ‘It was the bullies, it was the bullies, it was the bullies.’
“And I found out from my sister that Bonnie had said she was hiding in the bathrooms or the library to escape.”
Kelly O’Brien’s 12-year-old daughter Charlotte (pictured) took her own life on September 9 after experiencing horrendous bullying at school.
Charlotte (pictured) was relentlessly bullied by her classmates at Santa Sabina College in Strathfield, west of Sydney, where she had been a year seven student.
Ms. O’Brien said in retrospect that if she had known about the harassment beforehand, “I would have taken her out (of school) immediately.’
But she and her husband, Mat Howard, don’t blame any of the children involved in the bullying for their daughter’s death.
‘We need to make that clear. “I don’t blame the children at all because we can’t put pressure on them,” he said.
‘But once the adults have been notified, they must stand up. They have to be the defenders, they have to do better.”
Educators also need more training on how to prevent bullying “because Charlotte never becomes an adult,” her mother said.
Ms O’Brien revealed her daughter used to run to her car with tears “running” down her face begging for an “advocate”.
“Mom, mom, they’re all bystanders, I just need someone to stand up for them,” Charlotte had said, according to her mother.
Charlotte’s death was “senseless and totally avoidable,” both parents agreed.
On the night of her death, a friend of Charlotte’s had told her parents that she was distraught and upset about the latest cyberbullying she had suffered.
Howard didn’t reveal exactly what they were told, but said it contained “some of the worst words anyone should read, let alone a 12-year-old girl.”
Charlotte’s parents do not blame any of the children involved in the bullying for their daughter’s death, but they want adults to take more responsibility.
Cyberbullying has skyrocketed since the introduction of smartphones and new data has confirmed just how sharp the rise has been.
Before the first iPhone was introduced, Australia recorded 55 young people who committed suicide in 2006.
However, in recent generations, those numbers have almost doubled.
There were 100 cases of children committing suicide in 2020 and reports of self-harm are also increasing in frequency.
Some estimates suggest that for every child who commits suicide there may be up to 200 more who attempt it.
Ms O’Brien said this issue needs to be taken more seriously by adults who can “step in and be adults”.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Santa Sabina College for comment.