Monday, 15 April 2013

Canadian girl's suicide follows YouTube bullying plea - Scotland on Sunday

Amanda Todd, from British Columbia, is believed to have taken her own life last week.

In September, the 15-year-old cheerleader posted a nine-minute video in which she didn't speak but told her story in haunting detail in a series of handwritten notes that she held up to the camera.

Her school district's spokeswoman Cheryl Quinton confirmed the girl in the video was Amanda.

In the video, Amanda said she was lured by a stranger ?to expose her breasts to a ?webcam and the picture ended up on a Facebook page made by the stranger, to which her friends were added.

She wrote of being plunged into anxiety, depression, drugs and alcohol. She said she changed schools, but an encounter with another girl's boyfriend started the bullying again, which this time escalated into a physical attack in which she said she was beaten.

When she got home, she wrote, she drank bleach. "It killed me inside and I thought I actually was going to die."

She was rushed to a hospital to flush out the corrosive chemical. More anxiety, self-harming and overdosing followed. Despite counselling and taking antidepressants, she was taken to hospital again after an overdose. The last cards said simply: "I have ?nobody. I need someone. My name is Amanda Todd."

Beneath the video, Todd posted a note saying she produced it not for attention, but "to be an inspiration and to show that I can be strong." "Everyone's future will be bright one day, you just gotta pull through. I'm still here, aren't I?"

Coroner Barbara McClintock said Amanda died in her home on Wednesday. The Coquitlam Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the family was not prepared to speak publicly and have asked for privacy.

Amanda's death was headline news across Canada, with #RIPAmanda trending across Twitter and the Amanda Michelle Todd memorial ?Facebook page attracting more than 30,000 "likes".

Cyber-bullying experts and criminologists have suggested laws be strengthened to allow police to trace cyber-bullies through the internet.

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