Bullying is now becoming more and more illegal in more and more ways in Victoria. Cyberbullying is a common method of harassment.
If you are being bullied or harassed, a formal letter from a lawyer can quickly stop it. If that fails, an intervention order keeping that person away from you or your child can also work very well. Contact Vanessa Ash for advice on proceeding with a bullying case, either at your child’s school, in your neighbourhood, or at work.
- Bullying is defined as behaving in a way that causes other people or a group of people to feel upset or hurt, or that damages their property, reputation, or acceptance by others.
- Cyberbullying is bullying over the internet or by mobile phone, which can spread quickly and may continue for weeks, months or years, and can happen from a distance or near. Anyone can be guilty of being a bully.
Types of bullying
- Physical, direct: hitting, tripping, pinching, pushing, kicking, stealing, damage to property
- Verbal, direct: speaking to or about a person badly, meanly or hurtfully, teasing, name-calling, racist, homophobic, rumours
- Indirect: Upsetting or embarrassing a person, leaving them out of activities deliberately, mimicking, using rude body language, mean jokes, chat rooms or forums, texting, emailing, unwanted messages
Cyberbullying is online bullying and includes:
- Email, chat, text, social media threats
- Fake profiles to deceive
- Online stalking (scary stalking)
- Spreading personal information via electronic formats (text, message, social media, email)
- Bombing a person or a group of people with offensive messages in any format, to overload them with the messages from one or many sources
Intervention orders for bullying or harassment
If the bullying or harassment is ongoing or breaches certain criteria, it could turn into stalking. Stalking offences carry serious consequences, and an intervention order can be made by the person being bullied.
Call Vanessa Ash and Associates today for help with your case.