Warning: This story has mentions of suicide.
Tangiwai Wilson, an 11-year-old girl who was bullied by her peers at the now-closed Melville Intermediate School, died on 18 August 2020. Her mother, Coroner Matthew Bates, revealed that she had been threatened and chased by girls who tried to steal her phone.
The incident led to Tangiwai’s grandmother calling the school, and the principal told her the girls wanted to apologize but never showed up.
Tangiwai’s whānau said she seemed “fine” after the incident, but a few days before her death, she was bullied again by a boy at a local skate park who encouraged a group of girls to “assault her.” Tangiwai’s mother told coroner Bates the incident “clearly upset her,” but she didn’t like sharing her feelings, and it was difficult to get more information from her.
The next day, Bates said Tangiwai was tagged in a social media post with “extremely derogatory” information about her, which resulted in multiple people sending her screenshots and asking questions about the post.
Tangiwai’s boyfriend sent her a message on Instagram asking if she was “cheating” and followed up with messages breaking up with her and telling her not to do anything stupid.
The next morning, Tangiwai told her grandmother she did not want to return to school and would not say why. Her grandmother allowed her to stay home but said she would have to go back the next day.
Tangiwai later sent a message to a social media contact who told her about the social media post, which said: “I just wish I was dead.” That afternoon, she was added to an Instagram chat with four others named “Sorry, we don’t like fake friends” – there were messages making fun of her, accusing her of cheating doing sexual acts, and making fake accounts.
Tangiwai worried she would be assaulted and texted a friend, saying she was “thinking about ending my life,” but the friend saw the message and did not reply.
Emergency services were called to Tangiwai’s home, but unfortunately, she died in the early hours of the morning.
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