Facebook donations for West Park murder victim Viktorija Sokolova to be repaid

Bethany Zielinskj, aged 16, set up the online page to help Viktorija’s parents pay for their daughter’s funeral.

People from all over the world sent in their donations, after the 14-year-old was found dead in Wolverhampton’s West Park on April 12.

A 16-year-old boy was later arrested and charged with rape and murder.

The schoolgirl’s death shocked the city to its core, but when Bethany tried to claim the donations in a bid to pass them onto a grieving mother, Facebook officials told her she had ‘broken the rules’ as she was not over 18.

Its payment team refused to let her go any further and said they were ‘sorry for any inconvenience’.

But Bethany’s mother Tonya said it was hugely disappointing.

She said: “We have had nothing but trouble with this. We had to close the fundraiser down so everyone just got their refunds.

“We made a Facebook post to encourage people to donate directly to Tori’s mom, but of course people were giving from all across the world. It’s just so disappointing.

“You have to send in ID, so we tried to make my sister an admin of the page as she’s over 18 and has a passport, so she could prove it, but they wouldn’t let us.”

Tonya, 38, said because it took so long to try and claim the money, she started receiving cruel messages on Facebook from people who believed she had stolen it.

She added: “I won a holiday on Facebook so we went away a couple of days, and I started getting messages from people calling us ‘scum’ and ‘devil’. It honestly ruined the end of the holiday, I was so scared.

“When we got back I showed them proof, a screen shot to say I’d won a holiday and we had people come and apologise then.”

Viktorija’s funeral was held at the end of last month but Bethany and Tonya still hope the money can be sent to her family.

A Go Fund Me page has now been set up. Visit gofundme.com/viktorija-sokolova to donate.