In today's headlines with Susie Nordqvist, Hamas says its top political leader has been killed in an Israeli airstrike and nursing graduates were sent job offers in error.
Tangiwai Wilson was a healthy kid who loved sports and dancing, her mum told a coroner, but while she thrived at primary school, things changed as she entered intermediate school.
At 11 years old, Tangiwai died on August 18, 2020, in the home she shared with her grandmother, from what Coroner Matthew Bates has ruled was a suicide.
Tangiwai, nicknamed Doddy by loved ones, was being bullied by her peers at the now-closed Melville Intermediate School in Hamilton, but the school and her whānau were unaware of how bad things were.
Coroner Bates released his findings into Tangiwai’s death on Thursday and noted 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 Tangiwai the girls wanted to apologise to her, but they never showed up.
This was the only reported bullying incident made to the school, the principal said.
After the incident, Tangiwai’s whānau said she seemed “fine”, 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 mum 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, August 16, Bates said Tangiwai was tagged in a social media post that had “extremely derogatory” information about her, which resulted in multiple people sending her the screenshot and asking questions about the post.
Tangiwai’s boyfriend sent her a message on Instagram asking if she was “cheating” and followed that 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 go back to school but would not say why. Her grandmother allowed her to stay home but said she would have to go back the next day.
Tangiwai Wilson died in August 2020, aged just 11.
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 and doing sexual acts and making fake accounts.
A person Tangiwai knew then posted online messages that indicated they wanted to set up a fight between her and two girls. Coroner Bates said Tangiwai worried she would be assaulted.
In a message to a friend, she mentioned she was being bullied by two girls who she “thought were her friends”.
Shortly after 8.30pm, Tangiwai texted a friend and said she was “thinking about ending my life”, the friend saw the message and did not reply.
Emergency services were called to Tangiwai’s home later that night but she died in the early hours of the morning.
Tangiwai’s whānau did not know about the derogatory post made about her or the associated messaging and bullying in the Instagram group chat.
Police involvement
Police became involved after the online bullying came to light, and while they said they found the young people responsible for bullying Tangiwai and posting the social media post which was classed a “harmful digital communication”, they could not be prosecuted due to their young ages.
Police instead recommended they be educated on the harmful effects of social media to stop them doing it again.
A police spokesperson confirmed those involved underwent a police action plan which had been completed.
“Police and our partner agencies continue to work with youth around the country around the impacts of bullying and the safe use of social media.”
Bullying was a significant stressor for Tangiwai, Coroner Bates said, along with the break-up, the social media post and domestic issues.
“In combination, these matters appear to have been overwhelming for Tangiwai.
“Whatever the precise combination of factors, I find Tangiwai decided to end her life. There was no obvious indication to Tangiwai’s whānau that she would take such drastic action.”
While there was no prosecution of the bullies, Coroner Bates said there was “no doubt” significant and irreversible harm could result from bullying whether in person or online.
“Such actions have real and tragic consequences. Engaging in bullying online is cowardly and harmful behaviour which is difficult for victims to escape, particularly if posts are distributed across several social media platforms or shared.
“It can be relentless. This type of behaviour must be condemned.”
NetSafe chief online security officer Sean Lyons said he had seen an increasing amount of harm relating to online bullying.
“We hear reports of young people feeling socially excluded by bullying and it can have a significant impact on their mental health.”
It was a worry for parents and he noted signs to look out for included a young person withdrawing from activities or friendship groups and becoming secretive about their technology use.
Social media platforms did have age restrictions, Lyons said, but he likened these to age restrictions on movies.
“Young people aspire to do things made for people who are older than them, like watching a movie that has an R rating, and it’s the same with social media. But the age limits are there for a reason.”
