Orla’s Story
This is Orla's Story. As you will hear though, it could just as easily be your child’s, or any child you know. Having moved to a new country and hoping to make friends, Orla soon became the victim of offline bullying which, when she turned to the online world for friendship and solace with the help of a newly created Facebook account, soon followed her online. She was quickly groomed and sexually extorted by a much older man and lived a very real, terrifying personal hell for over 3 years until she was eventually able to tell her family what was happening as her situation came to an almost catastrophic climax. Orla survived her experience and to mark Anti-Bullying Week 2021, now wants to share her story with the world to prevent it happening to other young people who might find themselves in a situation like hers.
Warning: This documentary contains descriptions of sexual extortion, grooming and suicide.
Sharing link: soundcloud.com/cybersafekids/orlas-story
Thank you to Orla and Lindsay for their bravery in sharing their stories, and to Mick Moran for his valuable contributions. If you have been affected by any of the issues in this documentary, and want to share your story, or need help finding additional resources for support, please contact us on www.cybersafekids.ie or download our resource about online grooming by clicking here.
You can also find expert help on:
- www.childline.ie (for live chat or freephone 1800 66 66 66 / freetext 50101) (*Northern Ireland freephone 0800 1111)
- www.parentline.ie (Phone (01) 8733500 (*Northern Ireland 0808 802 0400)
or by contacting your local police station.
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This audio documentary was edited and produced by Philip Arneill and CyberSafeKids, with postproduction from Grooves Ahead.
Music is by Blue Feather Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
© CyberSafeKids 2021.