2010-04-03 CNN
PHILLIPS: She was only 15 years old. Why would she want to end her life? She said she was being bullied. And her teachers, even her parents, spoke up. But unfortunately that just wasn't enough. Now nine of her classmates stand charged for her suicide.
CNN's Alina Cho has the story.
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ELIZABETH SCHEIBEL, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The harassment reported to have occurred that day in the school's library appears to have been conducted in the presence of a faculty member and several students but went unreported to school administrators until after Phoebe's death.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Phoebe Prince was just 15 years old when she hanged herself in the stairway in the building where she lived with her parents, South Hadley, Massachusetts, about 100 miles from Boston.
Prosecutors say it wasn't an accident. That she was driven to suicide by relentless abuse. SCHEIBEL: The events of January 14th were not isolated. Rather, they were the culmination of a nearly three-month campaign of verbally abusive, assaultive behavior, and threats of physical harm towards Phoebe on school grounds by several South Hadley High School students.
CHO: Nine students were indicted. Three will be prosecuted as adults. Among them, 17-year-old Sean Mulveyhill facing charges of statutory rape and a violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury. Eighteen-year-old Austin Renaud also faces statutory rape charges. And 17-year-old Kayla Narey. She'll answer to criminal harassment and civil rights charges.
Phoebe and her family had recently moved to western Massachusetts from Ireland. Students say the torment she endured was harsh. Books routinely knocked out of her hands. Her face scribbled out of photographs on school walls. Threatening text messages constantly sent to her cell phone.
The DA says the alleged bullying --
SCHEIBEL: Appears to have been motivated by the group's displeasure with Phoebe's brief dating relationship with a male student that had ended some six weeks previous.
CHO: At South Hadley High School, students were stunned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Until you guys came around, I had no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they need to be prosecuted. You know it's not right at all.
CHO (on camera): Do you think they should face charges?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they had anything to do with it, they should.
CHO: Phoebe Prince isn't the first student in the area to commit suicide in recent months. Last year, an 11-year-old boy subjected to harassment also killed himself. After that suicide, the Massachusetts legislature stepped up work on an anti-bullying law. But so far, that bill has not passed.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.