Anguish about Irish school bullying suicide hits community

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A tribute to Phoebe Prince, who was due to visit Ireland last week.

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• News /  Tragic suicide of bullied Irish girl in Massachusetts / Click here

• News / Tragic death of Phoebe Prince hastens need for bullying legislation / Click here
  

• News / School seeks to stop bullying after Irish student suicide / Click here

Shockwaves from the death of the Irish teenager who killed herself earlier this month are still rippling through South Hadley, the Massachusetts town where she lived, as the community struggles to come to terms with her death and with what caused it. 

“It's tremendously emotionally draining on the family and the whole community right now,” said South Hadley Police Chief David LaBrie in the British Daily Mail. “It's such a sad thing.” Prince was just 15 years old when she committed suicide on Thursday January 14th. Her younger sister, who found her, was 12.

LaBrie is assisting the Northwest District Attorney's office’s investigation into Prince's death. “We are looking at all factors,” he added.

Shocking revelations about the bullying Prince endured have recently emerged. Shortly before she took her life someone sent her a text message saying: “Go kill yourself.”

According to Kevin Cullen writing in Boston.com, the bullies would call Prince a “slut,” or an “Irish slut.” The day she died, they drove past her in a car as she walked from school, shouting at her and throwing an energy drink out the window in her direction.

The bullying occurred within school as well as outside it. A friend has said Prince ran out of a math class because a girl was tormenting her, apparently jealous that a boy she liked had asked Prince to a school dance. “She was calling her names and threatening her,” the friend told the Mail. “Phoebe was probably scared. I know I would be.”

But so far, the bullies have remained unpunished, and they continue to walk the corridors of South Hadley school. Some commentators have criticized the school’s response to the situation. Barbara Coloroso, a best-selling author and consultant on bullying, was invited to speak at the school following the tragedy. “The most important thing is that kids see there are consequences that are swift and relevant, and not merely a warning,” she said, according to the Boston Herald. The school is also concerned the Prince family could sue, the paper reported.

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