SOUTH HADLEY, Mass., April 9 (UPI) -- Administrators at a Massachusetts high school did not listen to a teen's plea for help against bullying a week before she took her life, prosecutors said.
Phoebe Prince's seeking help from South Hadley High School administrators about the bullying was made public for the first time Thursday in court documents filed as three former classmates pleaded not guilty to charges of tormenting the high school freshman, The Boston Globe reported Friday.
Prosecutors said Prince was taunted, heckled and threatened by two groups of teenagers angry about her dating choices. The day before her death, prosecutors said, Prince told a friend going to school "has been close to intolerable lately" and insults turned into threats.
School officials, facing heavy criticism for failing to protect Prince, have insisted she never told them about the bullying and they learned of her situation only a week before she hanged herself Jan. 14, the Globe reported.
Attorneys for Flannery Mullins, Sharon Chanon Velazquez and Ashley Longe, all 16 and from South Hadley, were in Hampshire-Franklin Juvenile Court Thursday, entering pleas of not guilty on behalf of their clients. The teens were charged as adults and as youthful offenders with civil rights violations and stalking, the Globe said.
Others charged in Prince's alleged torment and suicide were arraigned Tuesday in Hampshire Superior Court, with their attorneys entering pleas of not guilty on their behalf. Sean Mulveyhill, 17, South Hadley; and Austin Renaud, 18, Springfield; pleaded not guilty to statutory rape in criminal court. Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey, 17, South Hadley; pleaded not guilty to charges of violation of civil rights, criminal harassment, and disturbance of a school assembly.
