THE mother of a teenage student who killed herself after being abused by her boyfriend has spoken of the daily struggle to rebuild their lives in the wake of her death.
Fiona Drouet, whose daughter Emily died while she was studying at Aberdeen University, revealed her husband, Germain, would return to work this month as a pilot for the first time since the 18-year-old’s death in March 2016.
Emily took her own life after being attacked by her boyfriend, Angus Milligan, and her family have since dedicated themselves to campaigning for tougher regulations to prevent students from suffering verbal and physical abuse.
Mrs Drouet, from Glasgow, said: “Every day is a struggle, but we will continue to try to rebuild our lives little by little and find the strength to accept that we will never be who we were but that we can work towards a new definition of happiness.
“We have to learn to live without Emily, her love, her light and her laughter, and accept she isn’t coming back. We want to find joy in memories of wonderful times spent with Emily.
“Germain is returning to work after nearly two years which will be difficult for all of us, but we pray that he has the strength to get back to the job he loved.”
Mrs Drouet was shocked at the sentence – 100 hours of community service and a year-long supervision order – meted out to Milligan, 22, after he was found guilty of abusing his fellow student.
But she is confident a new campaign, which she has launched with the National Union of Students, will grow this year. It calls for mandatory training for university staff and extra funding for student support services.
She added: “We hope that the #emilytest is accepted by all universities and colleges and student welfare is prioritised. We hope the Equally Safe in Higher Education (ESHE) guidelines will be mandatory, so support pathways are clear and concise and staff are fully trained and equipped to deal with the stresses and challenges of living away from home.
“We hope, together with ESHE and other valuable support groups, that we can achieve great change. Zero tolerance to gender-based violence and zero tolerance to bullying.
“Most of all, we want to help give young people the power that Emily felt she didn’t have – to put a stop to violence and bullying. To give them a future, to give them a chance to get help and to live.”
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