Family's heartwrenching essay about teen suicide victim

EXCLUSIVE: Cruel bullies tormented schoolgirl, 15, with fake porn before she took her own life and then posted vile messages within hours of her body being found, family reveal in heartwrenching essay

• Matilda ‘Tilly’ Rosewarne took her own life following years of relentless bullying
• Her parents said that the traumatic events over seven years ‘cut into Tilly’s soul’
• Ruthless bullies spread fake nude photos on Snapchat and a European porn site
• For confidential crisis support contact Lifeline 13 11 14

The same teenagers who relentlessly bullied a 15-year-old until she took her own life mocked her suicide in the days after her death, the victim’s family have revealed in a powerful essay posted online.

Matilda ‘Tilly’ Rosewarne was found dead by her father near her old cubby house at the family’s home in Bathurst, in the central west of NSW, on the morning of February 16.

In an emotional essay, Tilly’s uncle Sam Mason detailed how some of her classmates made disgusting jokes about the teenager’s death. At the same time, he shared the grim reality of Tilly’s death – and how her little sister saw her body in the backyard. 

In an article published to LinkedIn on Wednesday night, Mr Mason said Tilly was the target of seven years of harassment by school bullies and was the victim of ‘fake porn’ being spread on Snapchat.

After taking her own life, Mr Mason said that those who tormented Tilly apparently found her death amusing.

‘Within a day or so the jokes were already getting posted online in Snapchat and other social networks. 

‘The same kids that persecuted her quite literally to death thought it was funny – only days earlier Matilda had been told that she hadn’t previously tried hard enough (to take her own life),’ he wrote. 

”Don’t care LOL” posted one,’ he recalled.

The teenagers who abused Matilda Rosewarne (pictured) so relentlessly she took her own life mocked her suicide in the days following the 15-year-old’s tragic death

Mr Mason said Tilly had woken up at 3am of the morning of her death ‘determined to look pretty’, before dressing up and applying makeup ‘one last time’.

She then climbed out of her bedroom window and into the backyard, before walking down to the family’s play house. 

‘Finding her way in the dark was easy as she had played with her sisters and cousins there all her short life,’ her uncle wrote.  

Mr Mason revealed Tilly had removed the pin number from her mobile phone, cleared all notifications and left a short note for her family saying she ‘loved them’.

‘She was exhausted, tired, broken – she just couldn’t fight anymore,’ he said.

‘Our shattered little Tilly did her research properly and the noose did exactly what it’s supposed to do and she appears to have died instantly.’

Mr Mason said the kids knew they were ‘untouchable’ and ‘revelled’ in tormenting Tilly, with one girl even ‘threatening to kill her’

Her father Murray found her a few hours later when he went to wake his daughters up for school.  

‘In the next few minutes – somehow – her 13 year old sister went down the back yard and saw her,’ her uncle revealed. 

‘That traumatic vision will haunt her the rest of her life and is something nobody should ever have to witness at any age.

‘When her little sister found her, she fell to her knees and beseeched her big sister’s body – “You promised me. You promised me you would keep fighting”. 

‘And she did fight – for a bloody long time.’

Tilly was farewelled by family and friends last month, with her uncle Sam saying the family’s pain ‘will never truly end’

Mr Mason said while Tilly’s pain was finally over, the family’s ‘has only just begun and will never truly end’. 

‘Matilda – our brave shattered little girl. At the end, you did look pretty, baby.’

Mr Mason has called on the government to overhaul the education system to prevent children harnessing social media to bully classmates and prevent future tragedies.

He said girls at Tilly’s school had easily shared links showing ‘fake nudes’ from a European porn site through Snapchat. 

The fake porn had left the 15-year-old ‘desperately upset and tried so hard to clear her name,’ he said. 

Mr Mason said the kids knew they were ‘untouchable’ and ‘revelled’ in tormenting her, with one girl even ‘threatening to kill her’.

‘Terrified and shaking she looked to the school for support and found none. Despite dozens of witnesses, nothing was done. 

‘The ‘alleged’ perpetrator came from a ‘good family’ and of course the parents flatly denied it even happened,’ he wrote.

‘If a strong woman like Charlotte Dawson broke under the load – how can we expect our most vulnerable to manage it?’

Television personality Charlotte Dawson took her own life in 2014 after being harassed by trolls online. 

In an article published to LinkedIn on Wednesday night, Tilly’s uncle Sam Mason (pictured) said she was the target of seven years of harassment by school bullies

Mr Mason, who has worked in IT for 25 years and now works in artificial intelligence, said the police were ‘ill-equipped’ to deal with cyberbullying in schools and said while the education system had ‘abandoned Matilda’, blaming schools was also not the answer.

‘They only have our children for about 20% of each week whereas bullying is a 24 hour, 7 day a week problem,’ her uncle posted.

‘They will continue to hide behind a ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy and hope it goes away – because the elephant in the room that nobody wants to admit, is that they actually can’t stop this.’

He called on parents to ensure they are regularly checking in with their children, are educated in how to use the applications their children use and review their usage of these apps ‘because no one else is going to do it’. 

‘Try something – anything – we beg you. It is no longer acceptable to abdicate responsibility,’ Mr Mason pleaded.

‘Yes it’s a lot of work and yes it totally sucks that we have to do this while the tech companies both ignore and profit from the collective misery of our most precious resource.’ 

You can read Mr Mason’s full piece on LinkedIn, here. 

For confidential crisis support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14

Beyond Blue 1300 224 636  

Parents of a teenage suicide victim BEG people to consider three things before posting online – as they reveal the horrific bullying their daughter, 15, was exposed to which ‘cut into her soul and destroyed her’ 

The parents of a 15-year-old who took her own life following years of bullying have issued a dire warning to young people – asking them to consider whether something is ‘true, kind or necessary’ before posting it online.

Matilda ‘Tilly’ Rosewarne died on February 16 after enduring more than seven years’ of relentless abuse at the hands of children and teenagers in Bathurst, west of Sydney.

At her farewell at Bathurst Harness Racing Club, the schoolgirl’s parents Murray and Emma Mason told friends and family that their daughter decided to end her life as a result of catastrophic events that ‘cut into Tilly’s soul’. 

‘Every post you write, every image you share, every word you say has an impact,’ they wrote in her funeral booklet.

Matilda ‘Tilly’ Rosewarne (pictured) was 15 when she took her own life on February 16

‘We beg you, before you post, share or speak – ask yourself, is it true? Is it kind? It is necessary?’

‘If the answer is ‘no’ to any of these questions, do not post, do not share, do not speak.’

The parents explained that the father of one of their daughter’s classmates died when she was eight years’ old, but her classmates responded by holding a vote and deciding that Tilly’s father should have died instead.

When she wasn’t invited to birthday parties with the rest of her grade, her peers would call and text her all night to tease her because she wasn’t there.

Her classmates would also use Snapchat and a European porn site to spread ‘fake nudes’, which her cousin later explained on Facebook sparked an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

Ms Mason told the Daily Telegraph that they lodged a complaint with police, but there were difficulties identifying the person who owned the Snapchat account and the investigation was dropped.

By that point, Tilly was so unwell that she didn’t want to do more police interviews.

Tilly went to meet up with ‘friends’ at shopping centres, ‘only to have them harass and abuse her on public,’ her parents said.

Her parents said she loved to dance and was a star debater at school, but that she developed depression after being bullied

Her parents explained that they do not believe educational institutions manage bullying properly, and that some bullies are excused because ‘they come from a good family’.

‘We share these examples not to cast blame at any one person, or any one school, but to plead with all our educators and parents that something has to change,’ the family said.

‘If anything can come from the loss of Tilly, we wish that our education system moves past the security of having a policy, or observing ‘R U OK’ day to ensuring that real, hard conversations are had and that bullying behaviour is stopped.’

They remembered the schoolgirl as someone who loved to dance and paint, and was a great debater, but bullying led her to develop depression, anxiety and symptoms of borderline personality disorder – a condition that affects self-image and creates a pattern of unstable relationships.

Tilly’s best friend Grace told Daily Mail Australia that the schoolgirl would send her messages when she was in extreme distress.

Tilly’s parents Emma and Murray Mason wrote a tribute to their daughter and detailed some of the things she endured (pictured)

‘There were so many times Tilly messaged me and called me because she was scared other people would hurt her,’ she said.

‘She would be so upset and in tears because she thought she was going to die being beaten up.’

‘I just hope she’s not in pain anymore.’

In a Facebook post, a cousin who attended the funeral said ‘no amount of police intervention could stop the bullies’.

‘No amount of family support or assistance from psychologists and psychiatrists who were involved in her treatment could prevent Tilly from choosing for herself – the only way out she knew would give her peace.’

She encouraged parents to have ‘real, hard conversations’ with their children and schools to ‘help them understand the impact of words and actions’.

‘My family and I wont get to see Tilly grow any older now,’ the woman wrote.

‘She will live on in our hearts forever but it just didn’t have to be this way. If only people were kind.’

Police will conduct an investigation into Tilly’s death on behalf of the Coroner.  

Lifeline 13 11 14

Beyond Blue 1300 224 636 

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