Suicide of Dawn-Marie Wesley

Dawn-Marie Wesley

Born	Dawn-Marie Wesley May 5, 1986
Died	November 10, 2000 (aged 14)
Cause of death	Suicide by hanging
Nationality	Canadian
Ethnicity	European and Native American
Occupation	Student

Dawn-Marie Wesley, from Mission, British Columbia, Canada, (May 5, 1986 — November 10, 2000) was a student who died by suicide, after experiencing a cycle of bullying by psychological abuse and verbal threats from three female bullies at her high school.^[1]

She left behind a note to her family that referred to the bullying to which she had been subjected to: "If I try to get help, it will get worse. They are always looking for a new person to beat up and these are the toughest girls. If I ratted, they would get expelled from school and there would be no stopping them. I love you all so much." She died by suicide by hanging herself with her dog's leash in her bedroom.^[1]

Incident

At the age of 14, Dawn-Marie Wesley died by suicide by hanging herself with a dog leash in her bedroom after experiencing a cycle of psychological abuse and verbal threats ("bullying") from three female classmates, Kyla-Mae Dunn, Donna Harley and Darla Wilson, according to her suicide note. Her body was discovered by her 13-year-old brother who had come to her room to call her to dinner with the family. Mission's Royal Canadian Mounted Police found no crime had been committed, and some police officers were accused of a possible cover up, as one of the bullies accused was the daughter of an officer in the town. The incident garnered international media attention, which led to the groundbreaking investigation by Canada's Crown, and a precedent setting court case where for the first time in North American courts, teenage defendants were made to stand trial for bullying. Two of the teens pleaded guilty to Wesley's suicide. The third teen (Kyla-Mae Dunn) was acquitted of all charges. Donna Harley got into numerous confrontations with Dawn-Marie and Darla Wilson called Dawn-Marie and verbally threatened her right before she hanged herself.

Legal proceedings

The historic, landmark and precedent setting court case was presided over by Provincial Court Judge Jill Rounthwaite. It was noted that one of the girl bullies named in the suicide note was the daughter of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer in Mission. Two girls were convicted of uttering threats with the intent to instill fear, and criminal harassment.^[2] Their identities are protected because they were prosecuted under Canada's Young Offenders Act.^[2] B.C. Provincial Court Judge Jill Rounthwaite's ruling stated that it was clear that one of the accused had bullied Wesley repeatedly thus giving the victim reason to fear for her life. Rounthwaite also stated that bystanders added "to the power of the bully" by letting the harassment continue without intervention.

Documentary Film

Rats & Bullies: The Bullycide of Dawn Marie Wesley is a feature documentary film written, directed and produced by Cassidy R. McMillan and Ray Buffer that probed Wesley's suicide and offered solutions to teens, parents, teachers and school administrators on bullying. The film included interviews with many people involved in her suicide and insight from educational expert Rosalind Wiseman.

Rats & Bullies was filmed on location on Mission, British Columbia, Canada; Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada; Washington D.C.; and California (USA). The film began pre-production in 2004 and covered the court cases, sentencing, and fallout from the event. The documentary released the DVD on August 14, 2009. Rats & Bullies won the Women In Film (WIF) Foundation Award (Los Angeles), from over 1,500 films submitted into competition.

References

External links

Bullying

Types	Abusive supervision Cyberbullying Disability bullying Gay bashing Hazing Military bullying Mobbing Passive aggression Peer victimization Prison bullying Rankism Relational aggression School bullying Sexual bullying Workplace bullying (Academia Higher education Information technology Legal aspects Legal profession Medicine Nursing Teaching)

Elements	Betrayal Blacklisting Bullying and emotional intelligence Bullying culture Character assassination Control Coercion Climate of fear Defamation Destabilisation Discrediting Embarrassment False accusation Gaslighting Gossip Harassment Humiliation Incivility Innuendo Insult Intimidation Kiss up kick down Mind games Moving the goalposts Nagging Name calling Personal attacks Psychological abuse Physical abuse Rudeness Sarcasm School pranks Setting up to fail Silent treatment Smear campaign Social undermining Taunting Teasing Whispering campaign Workplace incivility Verbal abuse Yelling

Organizations	Act Against Bullying Ditch the Label Bullying UK It Gets Better Project Kidscape GRIN Campaign Jer's Vision

Activists	Andrea Adams Louise Burfitt-Dons Tim Field SuEllen Fried Heinz Leymann Gary Namie Kenneth Westhues Liam Hackett

Actions	Anti-Bullying Day Anti-Bullying Week International STAND UP to Bullying Day Anti-bullying legislation International Day of Pink

Notable suicides (List)	Kelly Yeomans (1997) Dawn-Marie Wesley (2000) Nicola Ann Raphael (2001) Ryan Halligan (2003) Megan Meier (2006) Tyler Clementi (2010) Phoebe Prince (2010) Jamey Rodemeyer (2011) Jamie Hubley (2011) Kenneth Weishuhn (2012) Amanda Todd (2012) Audrie Pott (2012) Jadin Bell (2013) Rehtaeh Parsons (2013)

Murder–suicides (incidents)	Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (Columbine, 1999) Jeff Weise (Red Lake, 2005) Elliot Rodger (Isla Vista, 2014)

Related topics	Control freak Complex post-traumatic stress disorder Dehumanization Depression Emotional blackmail Machiavellianism in the workplace Narcissism in the workplace Personal boundaries Personality disorders Psychological manipulation Psychological projection Psychological trauma Psychopathy in the workplace Scapegoating Self-esteem Suicide among LGBT youth Sycophancy Victim blaming Victim playing Victimisation Whistleblowing

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