Victim Impact Statement

Friday, December 17^th

By: Aaron Vukelic

Victim Impact Statement

Your honour, my daughter Dawn-Marie Wesley was victimized by 3 girls who had been her friends.  In the past few years, she was bullied in school, outside of school, and even in her own home. The 3 girls sent threatening messages over the phone, and even threatened her at school. One of the threats the girls had said to my daughter Dawn was, “your f---ing dead!” The 3 girl’s continued calling Dawn name’s and threatening her up to the point until she felt that there was only one way out for her. This was to kill herself in her room by hanging herself with a dog leash.  She thought if she were to ask for help it would only cause more problems for her and it would only get worse day by day.

 

 My daughter Dawn-Marie was bullied to the point where she committed suicide. When my daughter Dawn-Marie came home, she looked very sullen and quiet.  She seemed quite upset and I asked her if she wanted to talk about it. Dawn replied “no” and she went upstairs to her room quietly. Later I sent my son upstairs to go get Dawn down for dinner, moments later I heard a loud scream coming from upstairs. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could to see what my son was screaming about. I found him crying and pointing to Dawn’s bedroom.   I went inside not knowing what to expect and there I saw my daughter hanging in her closet by the dog’s leash. I was so traumatized that I ran downstairs and quickly phoned “911”. Dawn-Marie left a note before she had killed herself saying “if I try to ask for help, it will only get worse. They are always looking for a new person to beat up and they are the toughest girls. If I ratted, they would get suspended and there would be no stopping them. I love you all so much”. Those were my Daughter Dawn-Marie’s last word’s before she decided to hang herself.  The death of my daughter will never be forgotten by the family and friends of the Wesley’s. It had affected me, my husband and son greatly with depression and longing, because we have lost a very much loved one that could have easily been saved if we had only known of her problems that she was facing every day.  Dawn Marie was a well loved member of our community who everyone cared about.  

 In my opinion the girl’s involved in this horrible event should be separated from their classmates and friends so that this will never happen again.  I think they should all have to go to classes about bullying and behaviour modification focused on bullying of other’s so that they will be able to act appropriately and never cause other’s to have suicidal thoughts. These girls need to be made to realize that there action’s can cause real harm and anguish to those they are targeting as their victim’s when they are bullying.  I also think they should be banned from ways of communication such as texting, online websites like FaceBook, Twitter and MSN until they have passed their classes and proven they can act appropriately.

So in closing your honour... I feel that although these girls were responsible for the death of my only daughter, deep inside, I feel that these girls did not mean any harm.  How were they to have known that my daughter would take her own life?  I have talked to these girls and they are deeply sorry for their actions and bad choices and they are sad for the loss of my daughter.  For this reason I have decided to forgive them for their actions.  I feel that it is best to forgive them so that they may learn from their mistakes and go on with their lives and be better individuals in this world. We need to get on with our lives as well and may Dawn rest in peace.

Summary on Bullying

Dead Girl’s Mother Hugs Bully B.C. Teenager

Ian Bailey

We need to learn to stop bullying.

17 year old girl bullied a 14 year old girl to her death whose name was Dawn-Marie.  The 17 year old girl is at a sentencing circle 75km north of Vancouver. The 17 year old girl’s punishment is 18month’s of probation and a six month ban from her cell phone, the judge had also ordered a 750 word essay on bullying, also the judge ordered her to attend counselling and to perform 20 hours of community service.  She did not get sent to jail because they felt she would not learn her lesson there.  The crown noted that the offender was being held accountable for her words not the suicide.  Her little brother had found Dawn-Marie in her closet hung by a dog leash.  They had gone to a sentencing circle to discuss the bullies’ punishment because Dawn-Marie’s father is Native

Bullying hurts more than people’s feelings or body