A 12-year-old boy (pictured) tried to commit suicide twice after being bullied at school - but the culprits were only suspended for three days. Photo / Facebook
A 12-year-old boy (pictured) tried to commit suicide twice after being bullied at school - but the culprits were only suspended for three days. Photo / Facebook
WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT
A 12-year-old boy who has been severely bullied over a seven-year period has attempted to take his own life twice inside just one month.
Queensland boy Brian Birchall has been to seven different schools in seven years, having to leave four of them due to physicaland emotional bullying that has cut to the core of the 12-year-old.
It first started due to his red hair - then the name calling started. Soon came physical fights, and mental disintegration.
On his final day of school last year six boys surrounded Brian and beat him for three minutes non-stop.
"I went into the school that afternoon [and] that group of kids ... mocked me while I was walking up the stairs," Brian's mum Patrina Benton told The Project.
Following that, Brian, 12, attempted to take his own life. Twice.
A 12-year-old boy (pictured) tried to commit suicide twice after being bullied at school - but the culprits were only suspended for three days. Photo / Facebook
The Queensland boy's broken-hearted mother has been forced to keep her young son at home as the only way to avoid the constant bullying.
"If I am breaking the law by keeping my son safe, come and charge me, lock me up," she told Network Ten.
"There's nowhere else for us to go ... you have to sit back and watch your kid hurt themselves because you can't find them the help. Where do you go?
"[Brian trying to take his own life] will always be in the back of my mind now. From the minute I open my eyes to the minute I go to sleep. I'll always worry.
"I don't think I could give the kids a message, I could give their parents a message and say, come and have a listen to the path that we've walked and if you've got an empathy or sympathy, make sure that your children don't create that path for somebody else to walk."
Patrina Benton has had to keep her young son at home for the past six weeks as the only way for him to avoid the constant bullying. Photo / Channel 10
Benton said they had tried everything - without results - to help Brian from changing schools, reporting the incidents to the police and notifying the Queensland Education Department.
But nothing has helped.
Speaking on The Project, Brian said more lives will be lost if people continue to ignore the issue of bullying.
"It's just going to build up, build up, build up until someone stops it, or it gets to the point where… what I tried to do starts to happen."
After watching Brian's suffering, his older brother Murray wrote a Facebook post pleading for the bullying to stop following Brian's first suicide attempt.
"For months now this little guy has been bullied at school, he has been pushed around, been called names, been involved in both group and one on one fights, been made the laughing stock in front of his peers and the list goes on," Murray Benton wrote.
"My brother has been pushed to the point where he would rather turn to self harm opposed to returning to school."
Earlier this month, the 12-year-old's older brother, Murray Benton, shared an emotional post online about his little brother's suicide attempts and started a campaign. Photo / Channel 10
Murray has now launched the campaign - Fight the Good Fight Against Bullying - to shed light on the taboo subject.
"I truly believe from our experience, Gympie State High School has done nothing to support or protect their students and families against repetitive bullying," he wrote online.
Celebrities, including Ed Sheeran who arranged to meet Brian, have supported the campaign from all over the world.
If you are worried about your or someone else's mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call police immediately on 111.
