Teenage bullies hound 12-year-old to death

Deanne Teka with a photo of her daughter Alex, who died after a relentless bullying campaign. Picture / Amos Chapple

The day before school started, Alex Teka was found dead in the back garden of her Putaruru home. The 12-year-old had been the target of text bullies.

Since about July last year, Alex was bullied relentlessly by a group of girls not much older than her. Her mother Deanne Teka described it as an orchestrated campaign by email and text.

Over the summer holidays the playground bullying had culminated in a threat against her life.

Ms Teka says Alex had been accused of verbally abusing the sister of one of the girls. But she believes her daughter was the victim of "tall poppy syndrome".

"Maybe people need to understand you don't actually have to do anything wrong to be bullied."

One of the first to find Alex's body, ambulance officer Mechelle Wharton, remembers the impact. "I won't ever forget the job. It brought it home for me. When I got home from my shift, I sat my own four children down [aged 12 to 17] and had a talk to them."

Police say the death was not suspicious, and it has been referred to the coroner.

Alex's death was not an isolated case in Putaruru, population 3700. Since the end of October, three young people in the town have died in similar circumstances.

First, Alex's best friend's brother, a 20-year-old, died. In the New Year, about a month before Alex, a 16-year-old Putaruru youth died.

Alex also attended the funeral of her mother's cousin, who died in similar circumstances.

Although Ms Teka acknowledges that Alex's problems were likely to be more complicated than just bullying, she says the abuse played a major role in her unhappiness.

Signs that things were not smooth at school came midway through last year. Alex said she was unwell and spent a week away from school.

"Then when she was home for the second week she started to look not-sick. When I asked her about how things were, she showed me the emails and texts. They were threatening to beat her up at school and saying things like, 'You better not come to school because nobody likes you'.

"We had three options: go to the school; go to the police; or do nothing." They decided to approach the school.

Putaruru College was in its second year of operation, after the 2004 merger between the local intermediate and high schools. It had received an unfavourable ERO review and the principal at the time was on extended leave.