The community of Cornwall has been rocked with shock after a Polish teenager commited suicide in a school bathroom.
Dagmara Przybysz, 16, was found hanging in the toilets at Pool Academy in Pool, Cornwall at 2.15pm. The young girl had faced severe bullying by fellow pupils at the school and the day before her death, had punched a wall out of anger and injured her hand. She and her sister were the first Polish students to attend the school. Her friends and boyfriends all attended a separate school to her.
The day before her suicide, Dagmara had told her uncle, Tomasz Dobek, that she had taken pills. Dagmara’s father, Jedrzej, said Dobek had told him of the phone call. “She did not want to tell me the reason for her upset. Later she said she had problems at school which I would not understand.”
Dagmara’s father had sent her to school, adding they would have a serious discussion about her problems when she returned. He said, “My wife and I kept wondering whether we should have kept Dagmara home that day but there was no physical sign that she had taken any tablets, otherwise we would have taken her to hospital.”
Jedrzej waited outside the school afterwards to collect her when his wife, Eweline, called saying the police were at their home and that Dagmara was dead. Ewelina said she was aware her daughter was facing bullying but admitted she didn’t know exactly what was said.
“This incident occurred only a few days before Dagmara passed away,” she said. “I don’t know whether these incidents were racist in nature; however, I can say that on several occasions she overheard comments such as ‘stupid Pole’.”
Dagmara’s boyfriend, Lewis Simpson, said Dagmara had visited him the day before her suicide. Her arm was in a sling due to her punching the wall, though she told him it was because of a PE related injury.
“(She said) she sat outside the changing room and heard girls saying horrible things about her because she had taken PE so seriously. She said her tutor was there and did not speak up for her.”
On the same day, Dagmara had asked him “What would you do if I killed myself?” but Lewis had not thought she was serious. He told the coroner Dr Emma Carlyon that she had heard racist comments at her school, including go back to your own country.”
Dagmara was an aspiring photographer and had won a place to study photography at Truro College before her tragic death.
