Technology Slice

Suicide Silence

A grieving mother has blamed the internet for the death of her 14-year-old daughter.

Police are also blaming cyber bullying for the suicide of Geelong student Chanelle Rae, who died last Friday.

She is the fourth Western Heights College student to take their life in the last six months,The Geelong Advertiser reports.

Karren Rae said her daughter “wanted to die” after receiving an internet message on Friday night.

She said Chanelle was having trouble with some friends from school, but it was a minor issue that had not changed her mood at all.

“I laid in bed with her … and we discussed it for about an hour and she left me fairly happy,” she said.

Karen and her husband, Ian, returned home about an hour later to discover their daughter had committed suicide.

“I don’t blame the girl either, these are just kids throwing comments at each other for God’s sake, but she (Chanelle) obviously could not see past what was going to be done to her,” she said.

“When you’re 14 years old, who knows, if you don’t think you’ve got any friends … maybe that’s not worth living and obviously it wasn’t for her.”

Former Victorian premier and beyondblue chairman Jeff Kennett said the school’s students and staff were bound to be hurting but that it was important not to sweep the issue under the rug.

“It needs to be talked about openly within the school community and there needs to be a positive response to avoid it happening again,” he said.

“I hope they have a very heavy program for helping the students cope with these sad events and to help them develop mechanisms for coping with change.

“It’s very sad for those who are gone but it is even worse for those who are left. But they shouldn’t be blaming themselves because there is only so much you can do.”

 

Tags: bullying, cyber bullying, geelong, Internet, suicide silence
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