Boy, 10, takes own life after suffering ‘horrific bullying’

The parents of a young boy who took his own life have claimed he was relentlessly bullied by kids for his appearance.

A 10-year-old boy has died by suicide after being bullied relentlessly at school, according to his family — who claim to have raised the alarm at least 20 times in the last year.

Sammy Teusch, from Indiana in the US, was in the fourth grade where his parents say he suffered at the hands of playground bullies, the New York Post reports.

Sam and Nichole Teusch claim they complained to the school roughly 20 times about the bullying their son endured, stating it began when he was in primary school and continued into middle school.

But the devastated couple believe Sammy was bullied right up until the night he died on May 5.

Sammy Teusch was just 10-years-old when he took his own life. Picture: Nicole Teusch/Facebook

“I held him in my arms,” his dad, Sam, told local news outlet WTHR. “I did the thing no father should ever have to do, and any time I close my eyes, it’s all I can see.

“They were making fun of him for his glasses in the beginning, then on to make fun of his teeth. It went on for a long time.

“He was beat up on the school bus, and the kids broke his glasses and everything.

“I called the school, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse,’” the dad claimed.

His parents claim he resorted to suicide after suffering ‘horrific bullying’. Picture: Nicole Teusch/Facebook

The school district’s superintendent denied any bullying reports had ever been submitted by either the parents or the boy, according to reports.

However, he acknowledged that the school’s administrators and counsellor had regular conversations with the family throughout the year, without elaborating because of confidentiality rules.

The schoolboy’s family insisted their fears had been made clear.

“They knew this was going on. They knew this was going on,” the dad claimed.

His parents are devastated: ‘He was my little boy. He was my baby.’ Picture: Nicole Teusch/Facebook

Sammy’s grandmother, Cynthia Teusch, was furious at the district for claiming it has a zero-tolerance policy on bullying.

“They can’t just say they have zero tolerance because that doesn’t mean there is zero tolerance about bullies, their zero tolerance means that they don’t have responsibility for it,” she told WPTA.

“People trust their kids to the school, but now that trust is breaking down.”

Nichole, believes her son took his life because the constant bullying — especially an unspecified incident in a bathroom last week — left him too afraid to go to school.

“He was my little boy. He was my baby. He was the youngest one,” she told WTHR.

This article originally appeared on The New York Post and was reproduced with permission