Hundreds of schoolchildren are expected to gather for the emotional funeral service of a 14-year-old girl who tragically ended her own life after she was tormented by online bullies.
Amy Jayne Everett, known as ‘Dolly’, will be farewelled in the Northern Territory on Friday following her death on January 3.
The service will be held at Casuarina St Primary School in Katherine, where family and friends have been asked to wear blue, Dolly’s favourite colour.
Dolly’s family said she would be remembered as ‘kindest, caring, beautiful soul’.
Amy Jayne Everett, known as ‘Dolly’, will be farewelled in the Northern Territory on Friday following her death on January 3
Her father, Tick Everett, took to Facebook earlier this week to suggest the people who bullied and harassed his daughter should attend her memorial.
‘Please come to our service and witness the complete devastation you have created,’ Mr Everett wrote on Sunday.
The teenager had been the young, angelic face of Akubra hats.
In a statement on social media on Thursday, the company said: ‘To think that anyone could feel so overwhelmed and that this was their only option is unfathomable’.
The teenager’s death has become a battle cry against the horrors of bullying and the effects it has on mental health, particularly on young people.
A campaign to shut down Sarahah, an anonymous posting app used by bullies, is gaining rapid momentum.
The teenager had been the young, angelic face of Akubra hats. She will be farwelled on Friday
A Queensland mother whose young daughter was encouraged to kill herself by online trolls is leading the charge.
‘I have been scared, broken and sick to my stomach ever since I read messages about my 13-year-old daughter including, ”I hope SHE KILLS HERSELF. Seriously nobody will care”,’ the mother wrote in an online petition.
‘No one, especially our youth, should have to read messages like this about them,’ she said, describing Sarahah as an ‘app breeding suicides and hate’.
‘I read an article on ‘Dolly’, a 14 year old, who after so much bullying, took her life just after the New Year,’ she wrote.
The service will be held at Casuarina St Primary School in Katherine, where family and friends have been asked to wear blue, Dolly’s favourite colour
‘Dolly felt that her only way out was suicide. I do not want my daughter or any other to become the next Dolly.’
As of Friday morning, the petition had amassed over 15,000 signatures. That figure is quickly growing.
Meanwhile, Dolly’s family plan to establish a trust called ‘Dolly’s Dream’ dedicated to raising awareness around bullying, anxiety, depression and youth suicide.
The family said they did not want another family to experience such ‘sadness and tragedy’.
Dolly’s family said she would be remembered as ‘kindest, caring, beautiful soul’
‘Before Dolly died, she completed a drawing and wrote the words ”Stand up, speak even if your voice shakes”,’ they said.
‘This powerful message tells the dark, scary place our beautiful angel had travelled to.’
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.