Teens charged in case of cyberbullying

Nine teenagers were charged Monday in the case of bullying against Phoebe Prince, the high school freshman at South Hadley High School who hung herself on Jan. 14 after months of harassment from other students.

Sean Mulveyhill, 17, Kayla Narey, 17, both of South Hadley, and Austin Renaud, 18, of Springfield are set to appear in court on Tuesday, an article in the Boston Herald reported.

Mulveyhill is charged with statutory rape, violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly.

Narey is charged with one count of violation of civil rights resulting with bodily injury, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly, according to the article.

Renaud is charged with one count of statutory rape.

Ashley Longe, 16, Flannery Mullins, 16, and Sharon Chanon Velazquez, 16, all South Hadley students, were also charged in the case, but their cases are being handled by the juvenile court. One of the girls faces a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon after she allegedly threw a bottle at Prince as she walked home from school on the day of her death, the article said.

Three other girls were also charged, but their names were not released because of their age.

Prince, 15, had recently moved to the Massachusetts district from Ireland, and had reportedly been receiving verbal assaults and threats for months, It'sonBad.com reported. According to the New York Times, the abuse started after Prince had a brief relationship with a senior boy; she began receiving threatening text messages and some students called her an "Irish slut."

On the 14, Prince's sister found her hanging in the stairwell leading to their second-floor apartment, wearing the same clothes she wore to school.

The oldest of the nine teenagers will be arraigned on Tuesday; the rest of the trials are still pending.