- A Brisbane woman started a Facebook page after her BMW was allegedly stolen
- Bridget’s BMW Rescue Journey page was started by lawyer Dr Dr Bridget Cullen
- Facebook page followed fictional meth-addicted teen who allegedly stole car
- Posts were slammed as ‘wildly inappropriate’ but Dr Cullen hit back at criticism
- She has now stepped down as a board member of elite Christian school board
A lawyer accused of ‘stereotyping poor people’ on a Facebook page she set-up after her luxury car was stolen has stepped down from the board of an elite Christian school group.
Dr Bridget Cullen created the tongue-in-cheek page after her black 2017 BMW 5 series sports car was stolen from her Indooroopilly, west Brisbane, home in December last year.
The high-flying lawyer jokingly pretended to be the alleged offender on a page called Bridget’s BMW Rescue Journey.
But the attempted humour was not well received by parents and other members of the Presbyterian and Methodist Schools’ Association.
The governing body oversees the prestigious Brisbane Boys’ College, Somerville House, Clayfield College and Sunshine Coast Grammar schools.
A self-described ‘bad-ass middle-aged mother’. Dr Cullen announced her departure on Tuesday night following a social media backlash.
The public page, which has since been deleted, followed a fictional meth-addicted teenager whose mother is a prostitute living in government housing in Redbank.
The series of satirical posts followed the teenager as he drove the vehicle around the local area and continued to break the law, including stealing mobile phones.
‘Driving the beast all over town, buying up big on pseudoephedrine for big cook-up tonight,’ one post read.
According to the posts, the fictional teen had spent time at the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, used fake IDs and referred to people who live in ‘Indro’ as ‘c**ts’.
The teen would also go on ‘benders’ and revealed how when they visited their grandmother for her birthday they yelled ‘What the f**k are you trying to do?’.
Almost 600 followers joined the page, reportedly including Liberal National Party candidate for the Brisbane seat of McConnel in the 2020 state election, Pinky Singh.
Criminal lawyer Tam Elabbasi was also reportedly a ‘top fan’ of the page and allegedly wrote on the Facebook page on January 26 ‘I’m negotiating your movie deal! Easy money lol!’.
A senior source within the schools told the Courier-Mail the posts were ‘wildly inappropriate, and stereotyped poor people in disadvantaged areas’.
Another said they were shocked by the ‘horrific language’ used.
Dr Cullen had been frustrated police were unable to use tracking technology to locate the vehicle because of privacy laws.
She said she created the page ‘to harness the power of social media to assist police in their investigation’.
Queensland Police eventually recovered the vehicle and Dr Cullen said she was grateful for their work and for those who provided information in response to her posts.
Any attempt to suggest that my posts were more than this would be driven by an agenda that does not respect my status as a recent victim of crime,’ she said on Monday evening.
‘I am committed to social justice, for all persons in our society. It is often the case when a woman is in a leadership position that some people will look for an easy way to cut them down.’
The governing body’s code of conduct states that members must ‘treat every individual with courtesy and respect’ and ‘use social media appropriately and responsibly’.
PMSA chair Morgan Parker acknowledged Dr Cullen had ‘worked tirelessly during the transformative journey of the PMSA and she has made it clear that she has no interest in becoming a distraction to this significant body of work’.
‘We would like to reassure our community we are committed to the highest standards of conduct and ethical behaviour that are consistent with our Christian values,’ Mr Parker said.
Read more:
- PMSA board member Dr Bridget Cullen slammed for Facebook post ‘stereotyping poor people’
- www.couriermail….
Lawyer quits board of elite Christian schools after tongue-in-cheek Facebook posts about stolen BMW
