12-year-old Marie Brehm from Oregon committed suicide after she was relentlessly ridiculed and bullied by a boy at Elton Gregory Middle School.
Despite the mother’s complaints, neither the school nor her teacher took the matter seriously.
The girl’s mother, Maranda Riboli, is now suing the principal of the school, the teacher and the entire school district for $12 million for damages and an additional $35,000 for funeral expenses.
Riboli went on and said that her daughter’s death was a result of the district’s ‘deliberate indifference’ to her rights.
She had also sent emails to the school and had met with Brehm’s teacher to mention the effects of fat-shaming and bullying on her daughter. She said it severely affected her daughter’s studies as her grades slipped.
Two months after the mother sent these emails to her school, Brehm killed herself. It was a sign that nothing changed in the school despite her mother stressing the problem.
Riboli also said her daughter’s school didn’t follow its own procedure on dealing with bullying as the teacher didn’t inform the principal of what was happening.
According to The Oregonian, Brehm’s body was discovered by her older sister. She had also left behind a letter that said she took her own life ‘because of this boy,’ her mother’s lawyer revealed.
The girl had hanged herself because of the relentless bullying by a boy who called her names and said many hurtful and unforgettable things. The boy had ‘regularly and frequently fat-shamed the youngster and called her names.’
This boy had also bullied Brehm over a crush she had. He told her that her crush would never like her because she was overweight. He also told her to ‘kill herself because she was a waste of space and no boy would ever like her.’
The bullying became so severe that Brehm couldn’t take it anymore and she decided to take her own life.
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