Three girls charged over bullying suicide

Three teenage girls accused of bullying a 15-year-old classmate to suicide pleaded not guilty in a US court today.

Ashley Longe, Sharon Chanon Velazquez and Flannery Mullins, all 16, did not appear at the hearing in Hadle, Massachusetts.

Their lawyers entered the pleas for then on charges of civil rights violations and stalking charges. A judge ordered them to have no contact with the family of Irish girl Phoebe Prince.

Phoebe, who emigrated from County Clare with her family last year, hanged herself in January after what prosecutors called an “unrelenting” three-month bullying campaign by six teenagers. Prosecutors say she was targeted after she briefly dated a popular boy.

School administrators and teachers knew about the harassment but did little to stop it, District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel has said.

“This is the first step in a long process,” Alfred Chamberland, Mullins’ lawyer, said today.

The three other teenagers charged in connection with the death had not guilty pleas entered on their behalf at their arraignment on Tuesday in Hampshire Superior Court.

Sean Mulveyhill, 17, and Austin Renaud, 18, are charged with statutory rape. Kayla Narey, 17, is charged with civil rights violations and harassment.

All three were released on personal recognisance and ordered to stay away from the Prince family.