The heartbroken parents of the Australian teen who took her life after being bullied on social media have revealed the events that led to their daughter's death.
Amy Everett, nicknamed “Dolly,” who was the former face of the iconic Australian hat maker, Akubra, was only 14 when she took her own life on Jan. 14 after enduring years of bullying at a Queensland private school.
However, Dolly started to have issues during her first term.
“She told me that boys were calling her a [expletive]. She was 12,” Kate told A Current Affair.
“I don’t know whether 12-year-olds even know what that means, they shouldn’t.
“I used to tell her: 'It will get better, you’ll fit in. Everybody’s trying to fit in and they’re just working out their pecking order. Try not to be mean.'”
Kate raised the issue with the school but was told that it was a "bit of rough and tumble" in the playground and "not a massive issue," reported Newscorp.
Dolly told her mum that she was being ganged up on by students calling her inappropriate names. Kate said that one of the boys in the school was targeting Dolly in particular and even bullied Dolly physically.
But eventually, Dolly snapped. Her parents found out that she had “turned around and decked” the bully, leading to her suspension.
“Dolly probably shouldn’t have retaliated the way she did, but for Dolly then to become the person in the wrong and the other kid to be the victim ... it doesn’t make sense,” Tick told A Current Affair.
After the suspension, the bullying seemed to have lessened, however, in her second year at the school, things started going downhill.
Her parents started receiving calls about Dolly being trouble at school. They also noticed that their daughter was changing.
“She just went from the most enjoyable little girl to someone that did end up in trouble at school — there’s so much that I found out now, as opposed to then, and it probably would’ve made the outcome so much different," Kate told the current affairs program.
“She started to withdraw slowly by the first term, and in her Year 9. In that last year, I just think, ‘Oh god, she’s just changing’. And as a parent, I guess you say, ‘This is part of adolescence. Is this who she is?’"
Dolly's parents said before her death, their daughter had sent them an email from the school showing them the savage abuse her bullies would throw at her.
“How long do I have to stay? Can I please leave sooner?” Kate recalled her daughter writing in the email.
“I started to panic because they were ganging up on me and I didn’t want to fight so I walked away,” the email read.
“And one of them started screaming at me calling me a dirty [expletive] and screaming about how I should kill myself and to go cut some more.”
After receiving the email, her parents consulted a counsellor and considered removing her from the school. But Dolly kept up a brave front and said she wanted to stay in the school.
“She was going to prove that she could do it and that she was tough enough to be Dolly again, I think,” said Tick. “She had me convinced that she was right.”
However, things were not alright.
Her grieving parents have been vocal with raising awareness about bullying after their daughter's death. They set up a foundation, Dolly's Dream, in order to push for a national approach to bullying and cyber-safety in schools.