‘Absolutely speechless’: Family destroyed after memorial for 12yo school girl was removed

Santa Sabina College has issued a formal apology to the family of 12-year-old Charlotte O’Brien, acknowledging that its initial response to her tragic death was “inadequate and hurtful.”

Santa Sabina College has issued a formal apology to the family of 12-year-old Charlotte O’Brien, acknowledging that its initial response to her tragic death was “inadequate and hurtful.”

The apology came after revelations from 2GB’s Ben Fordham that Headspace never advised the school to remove Charlotte’s memorial, despite the school previously claiming otherwise.

Fordham reported that Headspace “confirmed to 2GB Breakfast it never advised the school to remove the memorial to Charlotte.”

Fordham described the school’s earlier claim as false, adding, “It was a straight-out lie.”

In a statement issued to the school community, the college admitted its response had added to the family’s grief and expressed regret over the handling of the memorial removal.

“Dear families, we are writing to you after what has been another challenging week following the tragic death of Charlotte O’Brien,” the school statement reads.

Charlotte O’Brien.

“We are devastated for Charlotte’s family and friends, and we acknowledge some of the college’s initial statements to the media were inadequate and hurtful.

“We apologise to Charlotte’s family for this. It was never our intention to add to their pain. We acknowledge that at times, our efforts have fallen short, and we are sincerely sorry.

“The choice to remove the public memorial was a difficult one, balancing the desire to honour Charlotte’s memory with our responsibility to prevent further distress among students.

“Ms Skerman was grateful to visit Charlotte’s parents, Kelly and Matt, to apologise to them personally. We are committed to working together to create a permanent memorial to remember Charlotte. She will not be forgotten.”

In a cruel blow to Charlotte’s already grieving family, the memorial full of flowers was removed from outside the inner-west school the 12-year-old attended.

Charlotte’s devastated aunty Melinda Rodger and her children Mikayla and Jayden made the memorial on Sunday afternoon - filled with all the things she loved like pink flowers, butterflies and her message: “Be Kind, everybody matters”.

Within 24 hours it was gone.

Charlotte’s mum Kelly told The Daily Telegraph she felt “destroyed” by the removal of her daughter’s memorial and questioned: “What sort of people remove a little girl’s memorial?”.

“My daughter was an amazing kind soul. No person deserves their memorial to be destroyed or removed but especially not her,” Kelly said.

Melinda Rodger made the memorial with her children. Picture: Justin Lloyd

“If it was another child’s memorial she would have shed a tear, said a prayer and contributed towards it. Charlotte matters.”

The Telegraph has contacted Santa Sabina College and Burwood Council about the memorial around a tree on the nature strip closest to the roadway out front of the school in Strathfeild.

Supplied photos of a memorial that family members of Charlotte O'Brien placed outside of the Santa Sabina School. The school took the memorial down.

“We waited until sport was over on the weekend and put it up late Sunday around 4pm. It was so beautiful Charlotte would have loved it,” Ms Rodger said on Tuesday.

“We drove past there first thing Monday morning and so many flowers had been added. It looked spectacular, really special,” she said.

“My two kids were in the car and said ‘Charlotte would love that’. We took photos and showed them to our family members who hadn’t been down there.

“Then I got a call from Kelly, Charlotte’s mum, on Monday night and she said ‘it’s all been removed’.

“I was just absolutely speechless. I jumped into the car with my daughter, and we went straight there. Everything had been taken.

“We ran into Kelly’s brother who was there and had a big bunch of flowers so we said ‘leave them there’.”

Supplied photos of a memorial that family members of Charlotte O'Brien placed outside of the Santa Sabina School. The school took the memorial down.

A memorial that family members of Charlotte O'Brien placed outside of the Santa Sabina School. The school took the memorial down.

Charlotte’s grandfather Bill O’Brien had a beautiful picture of Charlotte and her uncle Philip Matthews that he also left by the tree. By Monday morning that was gone too.

Ms Rodger said she was disgusted to learn a security guard had been at the site on Monday taking photos and videoing people who were placing down flowers.”

“I was just so angry,” she said.

Ms Rodger said she contacted the school office and was told by the lady who answered the phone she had no knowledge of what had happened to the memorial, which was outside the school grounds, on the nature strip closest to the road.

“I told her I wanted everything back. They asked me for an itemised list, which I gave them.”

She was told the council had not received any requests to remove the memorial not would they remove a memorial site.

Charlotte’s mum Kelly said she wanted her daughter to be remembered they she should be, honoured, respected and not forgotten.

“She was all about being kind,” Kelly said.

“It’s mental health awareness month this month, such a good opportunity to raise awareness. Yet a little girl’s memorial is removed instead,” she said.

Charlotte took her own life in September, leaving notes for her parents that urged them to share her story so her death was not in vain.

The culture at her, Santa Sabina College, has been questioned after the suicide following what her family claims was years of alleged bullying.

Santa Sabina College and Strathfield Council have been contacted for comment.

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