"Cyber bullying is a particularly insidious type of bullying as it can follow people wherever they go and the anonymity that it seemingly affords to the perpetrator can make it even more stressful for victim." - Edballs
Teen was bullied before death: inquest
By Tony Bartlett, AAP
October 19, 2009, 7:23 pm
The mother of a NSW high school student who committed suicide after being beaten and bullied says she hopes an inquest into his death will help protect other families from similar heartache.
Opening the inquest at Ballina on Monday, Deputy NSW Coroner Malcolm MacPherson said his examination of the circumstances surrounding 14-year-old Alex Wildman’s death on July 25, 2008 could prove to be harrowing.
The Kadina High School student, described by counsel assisting the coroner Peter Hamill, SC, as “a highly intelligent and sensitive young man”, took his life after intense bullying by peers.
The inquest was told he had also been bullied at Sydney high schools before moving to a new school near his mother’s Lismore home in a bid to escape it.
“A great deal of the evidence will concern the fact that Alex was being bullied at school and on the internet, and that he was bashed at least twice in the weeks leading up to his death,” Mr Hamill said.
“The inquest will also examine evidence about this bullying and what the family and the school knew about it and were doing about it.”
Mr Hamill said the inquest would also examine what responsibilities teachers had regarding cyber-bullying and assaults outside school hours, what training they were given to cope with these issues, and the interaction teachers had with police in reporting assaults on students on and out of school grounds.
“Nasty things, hurtful things were being said about Alex over the internet, and these things can best be described in the parlance of these times as cyber-bullying,” Mr Hamill said.
“One of the frustrating things in this case is the nature of the interaction between students out of school, through SMS, email, chatrooms and social networking sites such as My Space, MSN and Hotmail.”
Mr Hamill told the inquest there was a question over whether Alex, or someone posing as him, had posted derogatory remarks about another student and that student’s mother.
“Issues may lead the inquest to some conclusions of whether or not there were systematic failures which may have contributed to (his) death,” Mr Hamill said.
Outside the inquest, Justine Kelly said day one of the hearing had been “gruelling, exhausting”.
“I’m hoping it’ll get some changes made in policies and procedures and in the Juvenile Justice Act,” she told reporters.
She also expressed hope the inquest would result in changes to education department guidelines, and lead to a situation where “parents have more of an awareness of what’s happening, and make sure their children don’t bully.”
“Alex was a beautiful kid,” she said.
“You wouldn’t wish this upon your worst enemy. I wouldn’t want anybody to go through what our family’s going through.”
More than 40 witnesses, including Alex’s mother, as well as students, teachers and the acting principal of Kadina High School, are expected to be called to give evidence.
“I understand at times emotions may run very high but I expect everyone in this court to act civilly,” Mr MacPherson said.
“I will not tolerate any threats and I can exclude people from the court or have people locked up if that becomes necessary.”
A counsellor will be present to assist family members and witnesses through the hearings, which are continuing.