Girl’s harrowing bullying ordeal laid bare – and the lie that started it all

Amelia was 11 years old when a classmate told a lie about her. The rumour, and the nickname that came with it, would follow her for the next five years.

It started with a lie. A made-up story by another primary school-aged girl about her having appeared in a sexually explicit video.

Amelia* was only 11 at the time.

The rumour spread like wildfire.

As did the nickname (which the Herald Sun has chosen not to publish) that came with it, with students barking it at her on the bus and as she walked past at school.

Despite being untrue – and the instigator later coming out and saying she had fabricated the story – it stuck with her for the next five years.

Even her so-called friends turned on her.

“I felt like there was no escape,” Amelia told the Herald Sun.

Amelia’s bullying nightmare started with a lie about her that spread like wildfire. Picture: iStock

There was name-calling and teasing, her locker being trashed and graffitied with derogatory terms, and threats to her and her family’s lives.

She said Year 8 was a write-off, spent hiding for hours at a time in toilets or in the school office waiting for her mum to pick her up, rather than actually in a classroom.

Her cries for help from staff at the all-girls Catholic high school fell on deaf ears.

She said they simply told her to ignore what was being said and done, with no consequences for those doing it.

When she felt like she was out of options, Amelia said she resorted to violence, lashing out at her bully.

“I was over it and I thought it would solve it, but it didn’t,” she said.

It was only then, and after Amelia’s mother made the suggestion to the school, that the police got involved.

Officers came to the school and spoke to the two girls about all forms of bullying, and how it was a criminal offence.

But it still didn’t stop.

Police were called, but the bullying didn’t stop. Picture: iStock

By this point, Amelia’s mental health was poor. Her self esteem was low.

She had already tried to take her own life.

She also developed an eating disorder.

Amelia’s parents were so concerned, they pulled her from the school.

She was enrolled in virtual schooling, and is now top of her class and thriving with a supportive friends group.

Amelia thought she had put the bullying behind her, having no contact with her troubled tormentor for more than a year.

But then the girl, now 16, sent her a follow request on Instagram on March 5.

Annoyed Amelia would not accept her request, the girl got another friend involved and the pair sent a barrage of messages described by a magistrate as “awful”.

The messages contained name-calling, telling her she was ugly and looked like a transgender male, and threats they would come to her home.

Amelia* said she went to court because she was ‘out of options’. Picture: iStock

When she called out their “childish behaviour”, the response was “you look like a child” before telling her: “Go shove ur fingers down ur neck again or smthn so you can stop f--king yappa yapping.”

“Idk (I don’t know) what the point here is,” Amelia wrote.

They replied: “Hopefully ending in you kys (killing yourself).”

“They also sent me a video of a girl hanging herself from a ceiling fan and told me I should do the same,” Amelia said.

She blocked the pair and told her mum, before seeking advice on getting an intervention order.

“I decided to go to court because I was out of options,” Amelia said.

“I couldn’t just ignore it any more. And my mum especially didn’t want to let it go.

“So it was a step we decided to take to just have it over and done with once and for all.”

Her mother said they would never have had to go to court if it had been handled properly by her daughter’s school.

“It’s just absurd that it’s had to come to this,” she said.

“This was our only option to keep our child safe — to get the police and the courts involved.”

She said the school had repeatedly fobbed her and her husband off and told her daughter to simply ignore what was being said about her.

“It’s not kids being kids any more,” Amelia’s mum said.

“This was not just everyday girl stuff.

“The irony of it is after it all, my daughter had to leave, then the girl who was harassing her turned on another girl there, and they finally expelled her.

“Why wasn’t she expelled earlier?”

*Not her real name

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Originally published as Girl’s harrowing bullying ordeal laid bare – and the lie that started it all