Mom's anguish as bullied daughter driven to suicide.
Tears flowed as a Mission Secondary School held a mmorial yesterday for a 14-year-old student who killed herself after being bullied by her peers.
The flag at half-mast was a grim reminder for Dawn-Marie Wesley's schoolmates of the torture she went through from being bullied to the point that she saw no way out.
The sad ending to her young life is being investigated by Mission RCMP.
But police had little to say about the bullying the girl complained of in a suicide note.
"I know this 14-year-old girl died from a suicide," said Constable Marilyn Sexton last night.
"It's a file here."
Because the case involves a juvenile, and it is a suicide, Sexton said few details would be released about the Friday night death.
Dawn-Marie's parents want to get the word out that tormenting a kid can destroy a family.
"Don't let other children intimidate you," Dawn-Marie's mother Cindy Wesley said in a BCTV interview.
"If you're being hurt by other students don't let them intimidate you. Don't be afraid of them."
Full of emotion, she said anyone who is being taunted in the schoolyard has to go to the authorities.
"Go to the principal, go to a teacher."
"There's Block Parents, there's RCMP officers.
"And don't be afraid for one minute that the people who are doing this to you are going to get suspended from school. You will be protected."
She showed off a musical figurine that reminded her of her daughter.
"It has very special meaning to me," she said. "It plays The Wind Beneath My Wings. And Dawn was very much the wind beneath my wings and my husband's.
"We have a family... she had nieces that will never know her now. We had plans."
Mission Secondary School principal Randy Huth said the suicide has been tough on students and staff at his school.
"It's been a real hard week," he said. "We've had the district incident team in to meet with teachers that taught Dawn, then with the other staff."
A counselor has also been made available for Dawn's brother, who found her hanged in her bedroom.
She left a note saying three girls from school were going to kill her and that she couldn't take it any more.
Said her mom: "She felt that that was the only choice because she believed honestly in her heart that if she didn't end it herself then other people would end it violently for her."
Jerry Faulkner, the area's school board chair, said both staff and students are having a tough time. Counseling is in place for anyone who needs it, he said.
"It's a real tragedy and our hearts go out to the family," he said.
He would not comment on any disciplinary measures for anyone involved in the problem as it is still being investigated by the RCMP.
"As far as accusations of bullying, it has not been made clear at this time," he said.
