NORTH ANDOVER (CBS) — A North Andover girl who beat cancer by the time she turned 11 is now facing a new battle. Cyber bullies.
Justine Williams, who lost a leg in her battle against cancer, hopes coming forward will give other kids the courage to stand-up for themselves. Starting in February she started receiving dozens of threatening texts and phone calls.
Williams says the messages three or four times a day that would say things like, “I’m going to kill your animals,” and “Set a bomb off outside your house,” and “I’m going to rape you.”
She became scared and didn’t want to go school, then her grades started to suffer.
“She would say, ‘I just don’t feel right.’ And I thought of is she sick again? I didn’t know what was going on,” said Jane Williams, Justine’s mother. She went on to say that she was angry and frustrated and couldn’t believe someone would bully her daughter.
They contacted police and found out the bully was someone they knew. In fact, Justine considered this girl her best friend.
Police told the Williams her friend was using a website to mask her number and sometimes sent those texts while Skyping with Williams to watch her reaction.
The cyberbully was ordered to get counseling and perform community service. Williams’ father says it’s not nearly enough.
“If this is middle school what’s this person going to be like in high school?” asked Michael Williams.
The Williams family isn’t identifying the bully in this case. The District Attorney’s office worked with Jane Williams to come up with the punishment in this case.
The school pulled the bully out of Williams’ classes and made sure the two have little to no contact.
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