Polish girl, 16, found hanged at school ‘was bullied by racist gang’
A TEENAGE model found dead in a school toilet had been tormented by racist bullies, an inquest heard yesterday.
Polish-born Dagmara Przybysz, 16, was called a ‘stupid Pole’ and told she ‘did not belong here’ by a gang of girls.
The day before she hanged herself she is said to have punched a wall during a PE lesson so that she would need to be treated and could get away from the group.
Her body was found in a cubicle near the maths department at Pool Academy in Redruth, Cornwall, on May 17 last year after she failed to turn up to a lesson.
However, she was not discovered for more than 90 minutes after she went into the toilets.
During the first day of a threeday inquest yesterday, Dagmara’s mother Ewelina said the teenager had often confided in her about the problems she was having.
Mrs Przybysz told the hearing that her daughter wrote ‘racism’ on the website ASKfm in answer to a question about what problems she faced at school. ASKfm is a controversial social networking site on which users create profiles and send each other questions.
Mrs Przybysz added: ‘She often talked about problems and she was often hurt when people said unpleasant things.’ She claimed a gang of girls were responsible for the bullying. ‘These girls came up to Dagmara and accused her of saying unpleasant things and then called Dagmara names,’ she told the inquest in Truro.
‘It was just a few days before Dagmara passed away. She was barged into in the school corridor.
‘She told me she would have comments such as “stupid Pole”. Comments were made towards another Polish child and Dagmara would always try to stand up to them.’
A friend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the inquest that the teenager, who came to Britain in 2009, had been subjected to racist bullying. She said: ‘She told me when Year Ten girls said she “did not belong here”.’
Dagmara, who had modelled for a jewellery designer and on her mother’s fashion blog, fell out with fellow pupils during a rounders game the day before her death.
Her mother said: ‘She punched the wall so she could get away from these girls and the school.’
The teenager’s uncle, Tomasz Dobek, drove her to hospital. On the way they saw two girls in Pool Academy uniforms and Dagmara, known as Daggy, commented ‘Can you run them over?’ although he didn’t take it seriously.
Dagmara’s father, Jedrzej, said his daughter had gone to school the next day but had been very upset and claimed to have taken some tablets. Mr Przybysz said: ‘She did not want to tell me the reason for her upset. Later she said she had problems at school which I would not understand.’
He said his daughter did not look like ‘a person who had taken any tablets’, so he told her to go to school but promised they would have a ‘serious conversation’ later.
Mr Przybysz was waiting at the school to collect Dagmara when his wife rang to say the police were at their home in Redruth and that their daughter was dead.
Dagmara was filmed leaving a maths lesson and going into the toilet at 12.14pm but it was not until 1.50pm that the alarm was raised – despite a teacher checking the cubicles shortly before.
Mr Przybysz said: ‘ I cannot understand why it took the school 90 minutes to find her.’
Coroner Dr Emma Carlyon said the issue would be addressed later in the inquest.
Dagmara and her younger sister had gone to Pennoweth Primary School where they made ‘many friends’ most of whom went on to Redruth School. But Dagmara was sent to Pool Academy because it had a better reputation.
The inquest continues.
‘She punched the wall’