‘i did it For My daughter’
Why Mum says she sent messages that caused lockdowns
A MOTHER accused of putting a Gold Coast high school into lockdown by posting threatening online messages says she did it to protect her daughter.
Breaking her silence to the Bulletin, the 36-year-old mother said she masqueraded as a student through fake Facebook and Instagram accounts to stop her girl from being bullied.
A MOTHER accused of putting a Gold Coast high school into lockdown by posting threatening online messages says she did it to protect her daughter. Breaking her silence to the
Bulletin yesterday, the 36-yearold mother said she masqueraded as a student through fake Facebook and Instagram accounts to stop her girl from being bullied.
The woman said she was sorry for the posts and what they caused, but was desperate to stop “physical and emotional” attacks on her daughter that had gone on for five years.
“I have tried to reason with the teachers, the staff. We’ve had meetings and it has always been (another student) is the victim and my daughter is always the problem.
“It is like one fob off to another. Every time something happens she gets punished.
“I have had no outcome. There is nothing they are doing to support her.
“The (night before the lockdowns) my daughter had broken down from everything that has been happening and she was crying, screaming and saying ‘how can (they) get away with it, how are (they) always right?’.
“She was having a full on meltdown and this is a regular occurrence. I was just trying to protect her.
“I regret that the children had to be in lockdown and were scared but I don’t regret sticking up for my daughter.
“She always has to walk into the school and she gets slut shamed. She gets called slut by other students and people who gossip.”
This week things became particularly bad, she said, because her daughter was taunted by a group of students on Instagram.
The mother said she took screenshots of the online bullying and sent it to the school.
But she said the school did not act.
“(The online posts were) never against (the student I pretended to be). What I did was more for the school (to say) ‘can you take this seriously’?” she said.
Upper Coomera State College was sent into lockdown twice on Tuesday, at 10.30am and 1.30pm, after Facebook posts threatened someone with a gun would kill people on school grounds.
The first message read: “I’m shoot the f***ing school tomorrow, got a gun … this will be nothing on Colombians k***s.”
On Wednesday, the woman was charged with use of a carriage service to menace or harass, wilful disturbance at an educational facility and fraud.
She is due to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on June 28. The school did not respond to
Bulletin questions yesterday.
A Department of Education spokesman said: “Upper Coomera State College has worked closely with the student and family to address the reported bullying concerns.
“Bullying is not tolerated in Queensland state schools. Any situation that threatens the safety and well-being of students is treated extremely seriously, and dealt with as a matter of urgent priority. This week’s incident is a police matter and the department cannot comment further.”
The woman said she was phoned by a school official after the first lockdown. The official was trying to find a student.
“The first thing that came to mind was (an administrator) can jump quick to this but (they) can’t come quick to protect my daughter,” she said.
“(They) were so quick to jump on that, a Facebook post, but (they) weren’t that quick when my daughter was being physically, emotionally and mentally abused at school.
“(They) rang me in-between and asked where (a student was) but (they) didn’t have much to say at all about a resolution for (my daughter).
“I tried to speak to (them) about (my daughter), (they) didn’t want to speak about (her), (they) said ‘(they) had to go’.
“(They) weren’t willing to negotiate. I was trying to help my daughter.”
I REGRET THAT THE CHILDREN HAD TO BE IN LOCKDOWN AND WERE SCARED BUT I DON’T REGRET STICKING UP FOR MY DAUGHTER. ACCUSED MUM