Mother of suicide victim Courtney Love shares daughter’s last moments

The mother of a teen suicide victim has shared her daughter’s harrowing farewell video in a bid to raise awareness and help other families. WARNING: distressing content.

In the lonely moments before 15-year-old Courtney Love took her own life, she stared straight into the camera, tears welling in her eyes, and held up cards with carefully chosen words that gave a window into her tortured soul.

That was 12 years ago. Today, her mum still watches the haunting goodbye video, wishing she could wipe away the tear rolling down her cheek, resenting the fact there has been no drastic change in schools to protect kids like Courtney from bullies.

The parallels between Courtney’s story and that of Charlotte O’Brien were harrowing for Courtney’s mum Ness, who has decided for the first time to share that devastating footage of her daughter’s last moments in a bid to raise awareness.

In both cases young girls cried out for help, their families contacted the schools and the bullying didn’t stop.

“How is this happening 12 years down the track? Why is my heart breaking for these parents, for Charlotte’s parents, other parents?” Ness told The Sunday Telegraph.

“I know that there’s a lot more mental health services out there now than there was when Courtney committed suicide, but it’s still happening and I don’t understand why.”

Ness watches the video and wishes she could press pause, tell Courtney to “stop, don’t do it, it doesn’t have to be this way, it doesn’t have to be the end”.

This video is all she has left.

Courtney was having trouble with bullying at Kiama High School.

The toxicity swept into her bedroom, her private thoughts, the internet giving it a place to metastasise.

“Cut deeper”, the trolls typed, “go ahead and die then.”

Ness had repeatedly contacted the school about her daughter’s struggles, urging them to intervene.

Vanessa Love says more needs to be done to stamp out bullying in schools. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

She got her daughter counselling, did all the things she thought a mother should do when her child was in trouble, but alone she was helpless to stop it.

“She’d had a lot of bullying at school, probably not allowed to name names, but I still remember the girl’s name

“I went up to that school multiple times … and every time they’d say they’d sort it out between the two girls.

WATCH CHARLOTTE’S WISH DOCUMENTARY IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE

“Anyway, there was a month of real intense bullying from this girl to the point where Courtney would come home every day and she’d be like, ‘Mum just let me hit her. Just let me’. And I’m like, ‘No, you can’t do that’.

“This girl decided she was going to get a friend to start on her. Anyway, it got physical. My daughter was on the ground, she was being kicked, she was being punched.

Courtney’s mum, Ness, is fighting for more mental health services after her daughter suicided at 15.

“It was on school grounds, in school time and they had the nerve to suspend my daughter. Why? Because she fought back.

“I said: ‘What did you want her to do? She was on the ground.’

“Her best friend even had bruises on her chest because she was trying to help Courtney.

“And they said, ‘Well, she fought back, she’s committed violence at the school’.

“I didn’t get it, this girl had baited her, but at least I thought ‘ok, from that point it’s come to a head, the school’s really going to do something this time’.”

Courtney with her mum Ness at their Kiama home.

A screenshot of Courtney with the words ‘keep fighting’ written on her hand.

Ness is also angry there were no ramifications for the bullying.

“Courtney’s school bullies attended her funeral.

“That made me think that this would stop but nothing ever happened, the school never did anything — and the bullying, I am told, just kept going, just new targets.”

Kiama schoolgirl Courtney Love was bullied relentlessly at school before her death.

Ness is desperate for change and says she doesn’t know how many more times she can watch history repeat itself.

“They’ve got no escape. I was bullied at high school for being the fat kid, but I knew at 3.15pm that my bullying stopped, that no one could get at me until I went back the next day,” she said.

“Courtney couldn’t escape it. It is all online.

“And my heart broke to know of Charlotte writing those notes, asking for people to stop the bullying.

“She was 12. It’s not right.

“My daughter was 15. I had three more years with my daughter.

“Not that it makes any difference, but Charlotte was a baby. It’s not right.”

Originally published as Mother of suicide victim Courtney Love shares daughter’s last moments