http://www.canada.com/ottawa/story.asp?id={54EA3EA1-1889-46CB-ACFD-22CC0B0B79FD}
Teen found guilty in Abbotsford bullying that led to suicide
Canadian Press
Monday, March 25, 2002
(CP/HO)
Dawn-Marie Wesley of Mission, B.C., is shown in this undated family handout photo. (CP/HO)
ABBOTSFORD, B.C. (CP) - A teenager who threatened a schoolmate, prompting the girl to commit suicide, has been convicted of uttering threats and criminal harassment in a landmark case.
A second girl was acquitted. The case, which centered around bullying, was the first time the province has brought schoolgirls into court after a suicide to face such charges. "It's unfortunate that my daughter has to be in the middle of all this. I wish that my family, my community, my province and my country didn't have to deal with this. But we do," Cindy Wesley said after the verdict.
Wesley's 14-year-old daughter, Dawn-Marie, killed herself in November 2000, shortly after speaking on the phone with friends who accused her of spreading rumours.
"Now that we have the judicial system acknowledging that what's going on with our youth today is wrong, I think we're going to move forward on this," said Wesley.
After the verdict, Wesley hugged the teen who was acquitted.
Both accused cannot be named under provisions of the Young Offenders Act.
Youth Court Judge Jill Rounthwaite heard the case alone in Abbotsford, a Vancouver suburb in the Fraser Valley.
Court heard one of the teens say she and Dawn-Marie were friends. They borrowed each other's clothes, hung out and sometimes got angry with one another.
In her last conversation with Dawn-Marie, the girl testified she didn't mean what she said to her friend.
Wiping away tears, she said "When I get mad, I yell stuff that I don't mean."
Later, she said she couldn't even remember exactly what she said.
She said she made the death threat during the phone call because she believed Dawn-Marie was saying things about her that weren't true.
She also told court she had spoken to others about having Dawn-Marie beaten up if she continued to repeat the rumours.
Several girls testified offering similar acocunts.
But the trial wasn't about Dawn-Marie's suicide - she had made those threats before.
Prosecutor Wendy Harvey said the court's job wasn't to find anyone responsible for Dawn-Marie's death. Instead, the court was dealing only with a threat to cause death.
Cindy Wesley said she was satisfied with the judge's verdict.
She said the case will show teens that they must think before they issue threats.
"I believe that from Dawn-Marie's experience in her short little life that there has to be a learning. From every bad thing that happens, something good has to come from it and I believe what good will come from this will be for youth all across this country there's a difference now."
© Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press