Mum’s plea to TDs: Law on bullying must pass
THE mother of a 21-year-old who took her own life because of bullying says she hopes new legislation in her daughter’s name will not be delayed.
Over 22,000 people signed a petition to try to push through the new laws on online bullying and harassment – but now the Dáil has been dissolved.
This could mean that the legislation, known as Coco’s Law after tragic Dubliner Nicole Fox, could be lost. The draft legislation proposes a number of new offences including taking and distributing intimate images without consent, online or digital harassment, a specific offence of stalking, and an expanded offence
of sending threatening or indecent messages and revenge porn.
Jackie, who moved to Wexford recently to escape seeing people she believes were involved in a long campaign of bullying against her daughter, is hoping the next Government will push the draft proposals back up to Stage Three to avoid any protracted delays.
Just days ahead of the second anniversary of Nicole’s death, on January 20, Jackie said that ‘every day is a struggle for her to carry on’.
Nicole endured a sustained campaign of bullying which included cigarette butts being stamped out on her feet, being dragged down a flight of stairs in a nightclub and being told to go and die, during online attacks.
‘She was knocked so hard into a table at a nightclub that she dislocated her hip, and was elbowed in the face while out dancing,’ said Jackie. ‘Every time she went out, I
Victim of bullying: Nicole Fox wouldn’t go to bed because I knew I’d get the call from her to hurry down and bring her home. Before she went out, she’d start throwing up with nerves but then she’d put on her make-up and ask me to take a picture of her smiling because she was determined not to let them win.
‘They started abusing her online, even sending her videos on how to kill herself and telling her they’d put her on life support. She’d cry in bed every night and I’d lie beside her crying too.’
As Nicole was over 18 and refused to make a statement, the gardaí could not act. She took an overdose in 2015, and survived, but Jackie’s world completely shattered in 2018, when she arrived home with her 14-year-old son Lee to find Nicole had taken her life. She was rushed to hospital and placed on life support, but Jackie was told that the brain damage was too extensive and her organs would start shutting down.
She said: ‘I knew I had only minutes and I stroked her hair, told her how much I loved her and to go in peace.’
‘Every day is a struggle now’