A Gold Coast mother has delivered a heartbreaking message to her daughter’s bullies after a campaign of torment saw the teenager take her own life.
Emily Stick, 13, ended her life after months of online, verbal and physical abuse at her high school on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
The army cadet tried calling her mother, Sharlene Scott, during her final moments — but by the time the messages were seen it was too late.
Speaking with 9NEWS, Sharlene Scott described the harrowing moment she discovered the messages and missed calls from her “fun-loving and caring” daughter.
“I got a message that night from Emily saying ‘I’m going to kill myself’,” she told the outlet.
“But I never saw it until it was already too late.”
Sharlene Scott said she felt like a “hopeless parent” after discovering her daughter had taken her own life. (Image via *9NEWS).
Ms Scott said her daughter was relentlessly bullied, at times even hiding out in her school’s bathrooms to avoid going to class and confronting her tormentors.
“She couldn’t escape it, they followed her everywhere. She had a couple of girls tell her they were going to bash her until she wasn’t breathing any more,” an emotional Ms Scott explained.
“Thirty of them tried to attack her – male and females. She was too scared to even go to the bus stop.”
In a message to her daughter’s bullies, she added: “I hope they’re happy. I hope they feel good about themselves… What did she do so bad that you just had to keep bullying her to the point that she took her own life?”
While police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the teenager’s death, her family believe it’s unlikely any criminal charges will be laid.
Emilly was relentlessly bullied, at times even hiding out in her school’s bathrooms to avoid going to class. (Image via *9NEWS).
Ms Scott is now calling for tougher punishments for those who cyberbully in the hopes of preventing a similar tragedy.
“There needs to be consequences – otherwise they just don’t stop,” she said.
On Wednesday, a Senate committee is expected to hand down its findings after an inquiry into whether perpetrators should attract tougher criminal charges for online abuse.
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