A teenage girl who took her own life after being bullied online continues to be the victim of cyber taunts, as people post abuse on her Facebook tribute page.
More than 140 high school students gathered in a Sydney park this afternoon to remember 16-year-old Daani Sanders, who died last night.
Daani's friends, who gathered to mourn her at the Castle Hill reserve at 4pm, told Nine News the teenager was persistently bullied on Facebook, where she had nearly 2000 online friends.
And sadly, the online bullying has continued since her death.
A number of nasty comments posted on Daani’s memorial Facebook page today have sparked conflict among her online friends.
"Deserved it. I (laughed out loud) hard," one poster wrote.
Another leapt to Daani’s defence: "The disrespectful people writing nasty comments on this page need to step back and realise that it’s people like them that cause these tragic things to happen."
Daani attended Crestwood High School in Baulkham Hills until March, when her parents withdrew her from the school.
But her boyfriend, Tyler Cassel, told Nine News he had not been aware of the extent of her problems.
"I guess bullying could come in but I don't know, I don't really think it's about bullying," he said.
"She has other issues that no one knows, not even me."
Lifeline patron and former politician, John Brogden, said Daani's death was a tragic wake-up call.
"The worst thing we could do is ignore what has happened here," he said.
"It’s a tragedy, we'll never understand why it happened or what was in that young girl's mind but what is important is if we ignore what happened, we ignore the problem of suicide."
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or SANE Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263).
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