Mitchell Wilson Suicide: Boy's Death Raises Bullying Concerns

The Huffington Post Canada   First Posted: 09/29/11 01:47 PM ET Updated: 11/29/11 05:12 AM ET

Mitchell
Mitchell Wilson, an 11-year-old with muscular dystrophy was bullied and assaulted. He committed suicide last week.

The death of an 11-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy months after his assault by a bully has shined a spotlight on bullying in Canada's schools.

Muscular dystrophy left Mitchell Wilson struggling to do simple things like walking around the block or climbing stairs. He also had to use a walker at school. Doctors had urged him to exercise regularly to stave off the disease's effects, something that was growing increasingly difficult for the boy.

Wilson was mugged last November by a 12-year-old boy from his school. The assailant was after the iPhone Wilson borrowed from his dad. The bully was arrested and removed from the Pickering, Ont. school they both attended.

"He was never the same," said Craig Wilson to the Toronto Star, the boy's father and the one who found the boy's body in his room with a plastic bag tied around his head earlier this month.

Things didn't get any better for the young Mitchell as the court date loomed. And the bullying didn't stop.

"Subsequent to the beating that he took, he just lost that spark you see in a kid's eye. He had huge anxiety attacks about going outside and going for his walks and going to school by himself," Craig Wilson told CTV's Canada AM.

“At the cottage in July, he said, ‘If I have to go back to that school, I’ll kill myself,’” the boy's grandmother, Pam Wilson, told the National Post.

"He was very afraid, very fearful that he was going to run into this kid again," Mitchell's father told the CBC.

Wilson's death has raised fears that justice will not be served. The Crown initially feared that their case would have to be dropped because Wilson was unable to testify against his accused. But now the Crown has sought to delay a case while they prepare a written affidavit of a statement the boy made before his death. The case is now set for Nov. 21.

The alleged assailant cannot be identified due to his age but the Wilson family hopes that the alleged bully can atone for his crimes.

“He’s a lost kid. He hasn’t been loved, hasn’t been cared for. We don’t want to be a lynch squad. We want him to do community work with disabled people. All we are trying to do is help this kid understand that his life is going to be zip if he keeps on the road he is on,” Mitchell's grandmother told the National Post.

Wilson's father hopes that his son's death can save some lives in the long run. "I can’t do anything for my child anymore,” he said to the Toronto Sun. “So let’s hopefully save some other people’s children so they don’t have to go through this mess.”

Are you in crisis? Need help? Find links and numbers to 24-hour suicide crisis lines in your province here.

In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or visit stopbullying.gov.

Clarification: Additional details about how Craig Wilson, Mitchell Wilson's father, found his body was added to the story

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The death of an 11-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy months after his assault by a bully has shined a spotlight on bullying in Canada's schools. Muscular dystrophy left Mitchell Wilson strugglin...
The death of an 11-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy months after his assault by a bully has shined a spotlight on bullying in Canada's schools. Muscular dystrophy left Mitchell Wilson strugglin...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Alices Amanita
Go and boil your bottoms,you sons of silly persons
04:35 AM on 10/04/2011
Breaks my heart. He was just a baby...what of this bully? 12 years old...What about the parents who raised him this way? The school that did not control it or report this to his parents? The parents maybe knew and didn't care? God bless that angel and his poor parents.
12:46 PM on 10/03/2011
There should be a law that the bullies are to be jailed and wacked, and the bullies' parents are to be jailed for at least a week, and to go for parental counselling.
02:18 PM on 10/02/2011
look that boy should never been through this i blame the bully and the school the school should pay for the boys death as the bully should this is a bad world anymore but it not just one we are all to blame someway look at your self and ask what we did good for are fellow men and wonen lately were all most the for us i pray for that boy and his family i lost a little one i know how it hurts
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AudreyLee
Don't block me bro
01:45 PM on 10/02/2011
Honestly, sometimes the key is to avoid. I definitely think that he should have been homeschooled until he was stronger. This story is so sad. Not all kids get bullied... But those that do definitely have a different perspective than those that don't. I got the cr@p beat out of me (and I'm a girl, which is unusual) and when I got older I switched schools, which helped.
10:55 AM on 10/02/2011
This is such a tragic story. I wish that the little boy had options before he died such as going to another school or homeschooling. Surely, they have special needs classes and transportation to the school so he would be isolated from the bully. I am not trying to be critical of the parents in any way because I'm sure they tried to do all they possibly could for their son. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family at this time.
06:29 PM on 10/01/2011
I have Cerebral Palsy, I was bullied as a kid and I NEVER once considered suicide.
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09:39 AM on 10/02/2011
Oh that's really impressive. This kid must have been such a p*ssy.

You may not have killed yourself but you clearly lost much of your humanity. Congratulations.
02:34 PM on 10/03/2011
Hey don't bully him, he has Cerebral Palsy
12:16 PM on 10/04/2011
Saying such things is the equivalent to a person being bullied living without physical or mental disability saying "I do not have any disabilities and I NEVER once considered suicide". There is more to consider beyond what's simply on the surface.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
madcityy
04:20 PM on 10/01/2011
THIS IS TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Wesley Holbrook
Retired-Marine
04:18 PM on 10/01/2011
Give bullys' a taste of their own medicine...they need to be terrified, and it's very easy to do.
02:09 PM on 10/01/2011
its bad parentting that makes bullys, it dont matter if your rich or poor, its what the kids see and listen to from babys, ive got 4 kids all grown up now, 2 boys in the army ones a sports person and my daughters a mother herself now, we didnt have much but got by, my kids are fantastic people and have never bullied or aloud bullys to bully them, bullys that picked on this young lad should be put in prison along with the parents, so they can all be together untill they learn the rights and wrongs of living in a comunity,
02:35 PM on 10/03/2011
which is why the government needs to intrude on everyone's parenting habits for the bettering of society
02:47 AM on 10/05/2011
yes, but will that ever work, i mean will the goverment ever bring such a thing in as a way of living, how many bullys are in goverment, alot of goverment poeple are themselfs bullys and a bet theres quite a few bulling kids of these bullying officials bullying less fortunate, but your right in what your saying,
11:31 AM on 10/01/2011
This is yet another reason why C'lee+3 has a campaign introducing it's Anti-bullying tour to schools k-12 and workplaces. We have professional speaker Chris Hollyfield, former WWE wresting champ, TV personality who has taken his battle from the ring into the school yards while Jim Bouchard, BlackBelt expert and speaker addresses the topic in the workplaces. Speaker Alvin Perry is an extension to those from k-pre work youth with his Critical Thinking books that are being included in school curriculums across the US. Contact C'lee+3 at 203-565-6170 or email: cleeplus3@aol.com for more information and to book this tour in your city.

Visit www.cleeplus3.net; www.chrishollyfield.com; www.blackbelt.org or www.alvinperry.com.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AndyWright68
A truly free society is inevitable!
10:41 AM on 10/01/2011
Kids are bullied into going to school. Parents are bullied into forcing their kids into these prisons. People are bullied into paying for these brain-crushing institutions and their teachers. Teachers are bullied into teaching government propaganda. Teachers unions bully politicians inot stealing more money for them.

THIS ENTIRE EDUCATION SYSTEM IS ALL ABOUT BULLYING! So don't be surprised when it produces a bunch of bullies.
02:36 PM on 10/03/2011
I wouldn't have gone to school if it wasn't for all the bullying to get me into school, the way my Mom would trip me down the stairs and stuff and saying I should be in school and I'm all like Hey Mom, I'm only 3
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Trittydi
Special on pap smears at Walgreen's this week ....
02:06 AM on 10/01/2011
In case this helps any parents of children that are targeted for bullying ....

When our son was in Junior high - he was mercilessly targeted by fundamentalist christians because he believed in evolution.

We told the school we were going to involve the police. We said we would take out restraining orders against the children involved. They called the parents in - discussed with them what had happened and our threats - and the bullying stopped.

This might not work every time, but it might help someone.
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09:43 AM on 10/02/2011
I, too, was bullied by a group of Christians in middle school.

When my mom tried to get the school involved they said the kids had been expressing religious beliefs and that it therefore couldn't count as bullying and that nothing could be done.

Was really really sad. Im still somewhat appalled by their response to this day.
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brianlasvegas
Obama=Bush's third term
01:03 AM on 10/01/2011
This exposes a much bigger issue than bully's. It is the education system itself. No one can learn with a trouble maker in class. The teacher can't teach a child she fears. And parents don't parent. "My baby would never do anything wrong". Take the troublemaker out of the class and give him a broom, to better prepare him for his future. And then mandate a flogging of his parents during recess, not him.
08:29 PM on 09/30/2011
Someone here said 'Bully's have low self esteem'..well,i am old enough to remember when parents took their kid's out behind the woodshed and wore their little bratty asses out! I am also old enough to see how much worse the bullying problem has become.Let me tell you something .Always and forever their have been bullies and always will be..but the way to get them straight isn't baby them and make up excuses or reasons. I grew up in a tough place.It was fifties Southwestern va in cola camps. Parents ten were not afraid to whip the tar out of kids when they did something blatantly mean,and they didn't make excuses like people do today. I know most if not all of my friends grew up to be strong,caring and good people. If not for good parents,they may have turned out like so many spoiled brats who never had a whipping and all in the name of giving them 'high self esteem'..sorry all you phiolsiphiers out there. Throw down your dr Phil books and raise your children right.
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cmfrtblebbw
My micro bio is empty
09:42 AM on 10/02/2011
Not that spanking isn't a good way to get kids to stop bullying, but how does beating someone get them to understand that being cruel is a good idea?

HMM?
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09:45 AM on 10/02/2011
Violence creates violence and most kids weren't beaten for doing something mean. Especially not in the bible belt. Codding kids who behave badly is not the answer, but neither is physically abusing them. Your memory is doing you a gross disservice.
07:36 PM on 09/30/2011
I know this article is about bullying, the consquence and the nature, and I know that the parents wanted to raise him like other children in the real world to give him the same skills to do that, but if they knew of the bullying he was suffering (assuming they did) why in the name of God and love didn't they pull him out? They couldn't not have known how much disabled children suffer in schools. When you think something's wrong and the child isn't ponying up infomation, have one parent take him to his favourite place to eat and when he is more relaxed he will tell you what's troubling him. My own boy suffered bullying that I never knew about until he was sent a vicious little note thru the mail and, of stupidly signed by all. That night he wrote a note and put it on my pillow telling me "I can't go on and I want to commit suicide" He was only nine. All that I didn't know almost broke my heart. These kids DON'T have esteem problems they have bloated egos, a sense of entitlement, and are manipulative. The thing about bullying is that the perpetrater moves on and forgets it ever happened but the victim never forgets.