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NBC "Dateline" looks at why bullied Phoebe Prince committed suicide – VIDEOS

Father breaks silence during "Dateline" interview


Phoebe Prince
Phoebe Prince

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The father of Phoebe Prince has revealed that her younger sister tried to save the life of the South Hadley teenager when she discovered her body.

In an interview broadcast on Sunday night, Jeremy Prince broke his silence about the tragic loss of his 15-year-old daughter during the NBC Dateline episode “What Happened to Phoebe Prince?”.

"She told me that she had tried to undo the knots around Phoebe's neck and couldn't. As a father, to hear that news, what races through your mind immediately? I think natural defense mechanisms in the mind let you take it slowly bit by bit and realize the full horror of it."

An Irish immigrant, Phoebe Prince took her own life in January 2010 after a relentless campaign of bullying at South Hadley High School.

The Dateline segment showed Prince’s father talking about the discovery of the teenager’s body just days before a South Hadley High School dance. A freshman at the school, the 15-year-old was planning on wearing a new dress for the occasion.

“They went ahead with the dance two days later,” he recalled.

Prince, who resides in Ireland, said he "would never have wanted people to be jailed" for his daughter’s death.

"In the end, they should know compassion," he said.

Fighting back tears, Sharon Chanon Velazquez, (18), one of the teens indicted in the bullying case, said that Prince “didn't deserve any of the things that happened to her".

Former District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel also contributed to the program and spoke about charging the teens who bullied Prince.

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Unbelievable that they still held the school dance two days after her suicide. That says all you need to know about the school and the community really. Bullies are everywhere in society, from school to the workplace, always have been. We really need to tackle them and punish them more effectively. Most importantly our children need to be taught how best to deal with them. Suicide is never an option.
 




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