Pictured: Matilda Rosewarne, who tragically died on February 16
The shattered family of a schoolgirl who suicided rail against the heartless bullies who pushed her to the brink, asking ‘how many more little humans do we have to bury?’.
Matilda ‘Tilly’ Rosewarne was only 15 when she decided she couldn’t live with the merciless taunts she experienced at the hands of people she thought were friends in Bathurst, west of Sydney.
It took more than seven years for them to wear her down until, after one failed attempt, she tragically ended her life on February 16.
Tilly’s family have been in ruins after her death asking why schools don’t intervene properly in cases of severe bullying, and claiming ‘sorry is not enough’.
‘A once happy and joyful child was tormented and abused in an environment that was supposed to keep her safe,’ one relative wrote in a heartbreaking social media post on Thursday.
‘We must now live with the everlasting ramifications of her death, also falling victim to the cunning, vicious behaviour that is bred in schools.’
She said the term ‘bullying’ is thrown around loosely when it’s actually a ‘cancer that lives in person and online’.
Family members described Tilly (pictured) as a ‘joyful’ girl who was ‘tormented and abused’
‘We will not accept schools saying that these issues are ‘too hard’ and pushing them aside.
‘How many more little humans do we have to bury?’
She also posted a picture of the teenager’s coffin from the funeral service at Bathurst Harness Racing Club, which was covered with white roses.
Tilly’s mother Emma Mason said she couldn’t communicate the trauma bullying caused her daughter, or the ongoing distress her death caused her parents, siblings, and extended family.
The teenager’s first attempt on her own life was triggered when her peers used Snapchat and a European porn site to spread ‘fake nudes’.
Ms Mason said they lodged a complaint with police, but there were difficulties identifying the person who owned the Snapchat account and the investigation was dropped.
Tilly Rosewarne’s parents were shattered after her death and asked why schools don’t intervene quickly in cases of severe bullying
By that point, Tilly was so unwell that she didn’t want to do more police interviews.
The mother suggested to the Daily Telegraph that educational institutions keep a database of students’ phone numbers, emails and social media accounts to help them identify cyber bullies.
Henry Turnbull is Snapchat’s head of public policy in the Asia Pacific, and apologised to Tilly’s family.
‘I just wanted to say how sorry I am for what they are going through right now,’ Mr Turnbull told the publication.
‘That case unfortunately highlights … how bullying and abuse can often take place among people who know each other very well in real life.
‘It is a real challenge across a whole bunch of areas.’
A NSW Department of Education spokesperson extended condolences to Tilly’s family in a statement to Daily Mail Australia.
‘The wellbeing of our students is our highest priority in the NSW Department of Education,’ they said.
‘Bullying and anti-social behaviour is not tolerated at any public school in NSW. This includes bullying online and via social media.’
‘The Department works closely with the office of the e-safety commissioner and police to provide resources for schools and families on the issue.’
Tilly’s parents Emma and Murray Mason wrote a tribute to their daughter and detailed some of abuse she experienced at the hands of her peers (pictured)
In her funeral booklet, Tilly’s parents told friends and family that their daughter decided to end her life as a result of catastrophic events that ‘cut into Tilly’s soul’.
‘Every post you write, every image you share, every word you say has an impact,’ they said.
They explained that the father of one of their daughter’s classmates died when she was eight years’ old, but her classmates responded by holding a vote and deciding that Tilly’s father should have died instead.
When she wasn’t invited to birthday parties with the rest of her grade, her peers would call and text her all night to tease her because she wasn’t there.
‘We share these examples not to cast blame at any one person, or any one school, but to plead with all our educators and parents that something has to change,’ the family said.
‘If anything can come from the loss of Tilly, we wish that our education system moves past the security of having a policy, or observing “R U OK” day to ensuring that real, hard conversations are had and that bullying behaviour is stopped.’
They remembered the schoolgirl as someone who loved to dance and paint, and was a great debater, but bullying led her to develop depression, anxiety and symptoms of borderline personality disorder – a condition that affects self-image and creates a pattern of unstable relationships.
NSW Police told Daily Mail Australia there will be an investigation into Tilly’s death on behalf of the Coroner.
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