‘I don’t want any parents to experience what we went through’ - Mother of late Julio Mordoh
Teresa Mordoh is fighting for justice for her son who took his life after being abused by a teacher.
Picture: Pixabay.com
702’s Bongani Bingwa speaks with Teresa Mordoh, the mother of the late Julio Mordoh.
Listen below:
It is any parent’s worst nightmare to receive the call: Your child has attempted suicide, please hurry.
When Teresa Mordoh received it, she raced across town with her husband, but it was too late.
Two months before his 21st birthday, her son Julio’s life ended.
“He was a bright, intelligent, enthusiastic, curious child. He had a thirst for knowledge.”
- Teresa Mordoh
He had seen six psychiatrists, and eight psychologists, and spent 12 months being treated as an inpatient. He has been in hospital 12 times, to no avail.
Julio was in hospital as a high-risk patient at the time of his suicide.
“It was a hospital that should have been keeping him safe and observing him.”
- Teresa Mordoh
Teresa says she noticed he was struggling when he started junior school, which is grades three to seven.
He was being bullied severely, which led the head of pastoral care and rock climbing to check in with him weekly.
Julio began rock climbing at 10, where he was allegedly being abused by the coach.
He began seeing a psychologist towards the end of grade six who told his mother that he needed to be taken out of school because he was so unhappy.
The family moved to Paris for a while but came back a few years later which is when the trouble started again.
“He was physiologically triggered. He would come back home covered in goosebumps and visibly agitated.”
- Teresa Mordoh
The family only realised what happened when the school released a statement that other boys had come forward with allegations of abuse against the same man in 2021.
For the next year, Julio suffered severely, writing that he was struggling with something that he could not bear to say out loud.
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“I have pushed this to the deepest darkest corner of my mind… Saying it out loud makes it real.”
– A note from Julio before his death
Teresa says justice to her would be accountability for what happened, and seeing other parents advocate and stand up for their children.
“I do not want any parents to feel and experience what we have gone through.”
- Teresa Mordoh
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