On January 22, 14-year-old Naika Venant committed suicide by hanging herself during a Facebook Live stream. Now, her mother is fighting allegations that she was one of the hundreds of people who watched and that she mocked her daughter during it.
In a newly releases 20-page report, representatives of Florida‘s Department of Children and Families claim that Gina Caze was watching the live stream of her daughter threatening to kill herself, but that she took no action to stop what was happening.
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They allege that she posted this comment on Naika’s page: “#ADHD games played u sad little DCF custody jit that’s what u where u at for this dumb sh– n more u keep crying wolf u dead u will get buried life goes on after a jit that doesn’t listen to there parents trying to be grown seeking boys and girls attention instead of her books.” (Per the Tampa Bay Times, “jit” is a slang term that means a “young gangster.”)
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Caze vehemently denies these allegations. Stacie Schmerling, a lawyer representing Caze stated, “The statement that is contributed to Naika’s mother was made after Naika was already deceased. But Naika’s mother was told that it was all a hoax, that the suicide was a hoax and that her daughter was not deceased.”
What’s interesting about that statement is that it isn’t worded to be an outright denial, but more of a deflection. It doesn’t say that Caze didn’t post it, it just says it’s “contributed” to her, that it was posted after the incident, and that Caze was told the whole thing was a “hoax.” There’s plenty of room in there to surmise that, even if she did believe it all to be fake and meant no harm, it’s possible Caze could have intentionally made the comment.
Naika had trouble with her mother for a while and was in foster care at the time of her death. She had been in and out of foster care throughout her life and was forced to endure some pretty horrible experiences like neglect and sexual abuse.
In a statement to the press, Caze said, “I am sick and devastated by this tragedy. I trusted Florida foster care people to care for my baby. Instead, she killed herself on Facebook. I have to bury my baby.”
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