HUNDREDS turned out for the funeral of Ronan Hughes, who is thought to have taken his own life after being tormented by online bullies.
The 17-year-old, who was discovered dead in the Coole Road area of Coalisland on Friday, June 5, was laid to rest in his native Tyrone yesterday (June 9).
Tyrone schoolboy Ronan Hughes, 17, took his own life after being tormented by cyber bullies (Photo Facebook)His funeral was held at St Patrick’s Church in Clonoe, where hundreds of mourners – including many of his school friends from St Joseph’s Grammar School in Donaghmore – came out to pay their final respects to the tragic teenager.
There his local parish priest Father Benny Fee told those gathered that his death was at the hands of “a man, woman or gang, somewhere in the big world, who are guilty of a terrible crime”.
Police investigating the circumstances surrounding his death believe the teenager may have taken his own life after being “tricked” into posting photographs on the internet.
“Our enquiries into this tragedy are continuing, however, it is understood the schoolboy took his own life after he had been tricked into posting images on a social networking site,” Mid-Ulster district police commander Superintendent Mike Baird confirmed.
The youngster is also thought to have suffered cyber-bullying in the time leading up to his death.
Some reports further suggest that faceless online criminals based outside of Ireland may have also been trying to extort money from the teenager.
“What we are possibly looking at here is some international element of Ronan having been targeted from abroad purely and only to extort and blackmail him for money,” his school Principal Geraldine Donnelly stated this week.
Regarding those he feels are responsible for the death, Fr Fee added: “They exploited him and they broke him, and if they could do that to such a sensible fella as Ronan, they could do that to anyone.”
