12-year-old Brian Birchell tried to end his own life twice in one week, much to the shock of his loving family.
The Year 8 student at Gympie State High was bullied horribly for years, and while his family knew the insults were taking a toll, they had no idea just how severely.
Brian was first bullied five years ago for a bowel disease, which meant Brian had to wear a tube in his stomach.
“My name is Brian, I’m 12-years-old, I’ve been bullied all my life and I want this to stop,” Brian Birchall said on Sunday’s episode of the Project.
Brian on The Sunday Project.
The bullying then became more frequent and more aggressive, mocking the boy’s red hair, his freckles and the fact he couldn’t play sport.
Brian’s brother, Murray Benton, previously told the Dailymail that his brother begged to dye his hair brown “for ages”.
“He pushed for ages to make mum let him dye his hair brown because of the bullying – she let him get it done eventually.”
But nothing helped.
Last month Brian’s mother caught her son trying to end his own life for the second time in a week.
12-year-old Brian.
Brian’s Mum, Katrina, has decided to keep Brian home from school after years of bullying.
“If I’m breaking the law by keeping my son safe, come and charge me,” Katrina told Sunday Project Host, Lisa Wilkinson.
“Lock me up.”
Brian admitted he’d also started self-harming to help him through the pain and anger.
“I hit myself in the head because I really want to fight these kids because I’m absolutely fed up with them … it’s gotten too much.”
“He has been bullied for a number of years – we moved him from school to school and thought it would stop at high school,” Murray told the DailyMail.
“But one of the bullies who had tormented him years earlier recognised him and so it started again.”
Brian tried to get away from his bullies, but they would just make things worse.
“I found conversations with other kids from his school who were also being bullied.”
“They talked about wanting to die – and if they should all do it together – so it is also a reminder that parents should check their kids’ phones and tablets,” Brian’s brother said.
With consent from Brian and their family, Murray Benton shared a post on Facebook declaring a war on bullying.
“We have decided to put this post up with firstly the intention to spread some much needed awareness of bullying in our schools and also to express my honest disgust in both Gympie State High School and also our general public health system,” the post says.
Read the full below below.
Lisa asks if Brian’s mother had a message for the children who had been bullying her son.
“I don’t think I’d give the kids a message, I’d give the parents a message.”
“I’d say come and have a listen to the path that we’ve walked and if you’ve got any empathy or sympathy, don’t let your children create that path for someone else to walk,” the 12-year-old’s mother said.
The bullying is so bad the family are unable to find an option for Brian’s schooling to continue.
“Change schools? Been there and done that. Go to the police? Been there, done that. Go to the Education Department? Been there, done that. Tell me somewhere I haven’t been,” Brian’s mother says.
“There’s just nowhere for us to go Lisa, there’s nowhere.”
“There’s just nowhere for us to go, Lisa, there’s nowhere.”
Murray Benton has now quit his job and is working on a campaign to put an end to bullying.
“This isn’t just happening to Brian, this is happening to a lot of kids. How many other kids have already lost their lives?” he asks?
The campaign is growing quickly thanks to the support of celebrities, like fellow red head Ed Sheeran.
Murray’s campaign is called Fight the Good Fight Against Bullying and already has almost 3,000 members. Their vision is to create a safe & welcoming platform for discussions with Australian families who like most have been subject to the adverse trauma of bullying. From there, they will continue to work towards real change and awareness on both a community & legislative level.
Join the group here.
If you or anyone you know is suffering, please contact Lifeline (lifeline.org.au) on 1311 14 or visit Headspace at (headspace.org.au).
Visit Beyond Blue at (beyondblue.org.au) or call 1300 22 4636.
You can also contact the Kids Help Line on 1800 55 1800.
