SARAH: There has been some days where I couldn’t
even get dressed; life stops. You just want it to go away.
SARAH: If you go on the internet and you try
and look for information on cyber bullying there is a lot but mainly for children and
teenagers but there is nothing for adults and it affects more adults than we actually
know.
COMM: Fitness and beauty pageant organizer
Sarah Donohue knows better than most how online bullying can ruin lives.
PAT: She was at the top of her game and then
it all collapsed but we didn’t know why.
SARAH: When you are abused like this over
the internet it’s very hard to describe it, because a lot of people say you can just
ignore it. You can’t ignore it. It’s with you all the time. You know that when you turn
the internet on it’s going to be there on Twitter, it’s going to be there on Facebook
and there is nothing that you can do to stop it.
COMM: Before running pageants Sarah had been
a champion in both power-boating and fitness competitions and she was surprised at how
deeply she was affected.
SARAH: I am naturally a very strong person;
I am not the sort of person that I ever thought could become a victim. This broke me. You
know and if this can break me I think this is why people really need to take note.
LEE: I was very surprised in the way it affected
Sarah because in all honestly I had never seen her cry before. We have been together
for a couple of years at that point. I had never seen anything affect her in this way.
SARAH: I was ashamed about being bullied because
as an adult you shouldn’t really be bullied, should you? You think this is something that
happens to teenagers and children.
PAT: I can’t believe people could do things
like that.
COMM: Sarah was targeted by former contestants
and associates after a disagreement about the Miss Galaxy Universe competition she runs.
SARAH: In the first few days you just think
‘Oh it’s silly, it will go away’. Then it gets worse and then more people join in.
You start getting threats. People start saying really nasty things and then people that you
don’t even know join in. They often say that when you get one cyber bully, a cyber
bully soon becomes a mob. They are keyboard warriors; only when there is a keyboard involved
they haven’t got the guts to be able to say anything to your face.
COMM And after three months of enduring the
abuse she and Lee felt they had no option but to move home and postpone their wedding.
LEE: Some of the threats did actually suggest
coming up to the house. Where we used to live was in the middle of nowhere so quite vulnerable
really.
SARAH: It just got so much we just kind of
wanted a clean slate. We literally just packed up and left.
SARAH: I cancelled my first wedding with Lee
because we just couldn’t go through and all my friends were saying ‘No Sarah, it’s
okay. You can do it’. I said ‘No I can’t, I can’t do it’.
LEE: How can you expect somebody to focus
on what will be the biggest day of their life when they can’t focus on anything else other
than the abuse she was getting online.
COMM: With cyber bullying on the rise, new
UK legislation in 2014 means that perpetrators can now face up to 2 years in prison.
LEE: You win
COMM: After starting legal proceedings Sarah
received a 15,000 pounds out of court settlement.
PAT: She has got over it and she is happy,
she is back on her feet and she is trying to put her shows together again.
SARAH: I will never get bullied again on social
media.
SARAH: Massive loser.
SARAH: I know all the warning signs. I know
how to deal with it and I know how to nip it in the bud, I know what to do. And after
that nothing can affect me again.
COMM: Now Sarah has married Lee and plans
to fund a website to help other cyber bullying victims.
SARAH: There is a lot of people out there
that need to be helped but there is nowhere for them to go. As soon as you become an adult
and you stop being a teenager, where else do they go? There is nowhere. Cyber bullying,
it does ruin lives.