Rehtaeh Parsons, Teen gang raped, no charges, commits suicide

[kmclaren]

Yet another sad, sad story. These bring me to tears, I have 2 teen girls and well, just can't imagine having to watch either one of them suffer so much.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...r-being-raped-bullied-online/article10940600/

 

[Bree0372]

Heartbreaking!

Mr. Parsons said individual teachers tried to help her but police and the school authorities did little to deal with the harassment, Mr. Parsons said, even though the family complained that the photo constituted child pornography.

“They said it was out of their control,” he said.

He said the RCMP told the family that that they had retraced the picture to one of the boys’ mobile phones but could not prove who had snapped the photo. No charges were laid.

An RCMP spokesman, Corporal Scott MacRae, confirmed that the force has an on-going probe into the sudden death of a young person and had previously completed an investigation into a sexual-assault complaint.

“In consultation with the Crown, there was insufficient evidence to lay charges,” Cpl. MacRae said.

Insufficient evidence? They had a picture of the sexual assault. What more did they need - a video? Perhaps they could've believed the girl and brought the 4 boys in for interrogation? Seems LE dropped the ball on this one. As did the school, for not putting an end to the bullying at school. "Out of their control"?? :banghead:

And another child is dead.... :cry:

 

[x_files]

What a horrible message to send to other victims. The justice system won't help you.
Sick to my stomach.

 

[JeannaT]

Heartbreaking!



Insufficient evidence? They had a picture of the sexual assault. What more did they need - a video? Perhaps they could've believed the girl and brought the 4 boys in for interrogation? Seems LE dropped the ball on this one. As did the school, for not putting an end to the bullying at school. "Out of their control"?? :banghead:

And another child is dead.... :cry:

It's not completely clear what the picture was of. It was her, in a sex act with a boy, but it's not clear the photo appeared to be an assault vs. a consensual act.

Once again, as this is usually the case, this incident happened at a party with drinking kids. The water becomes very, very muddy when there is no lab evidence of what happened, and there is one possibly blurry picture and all of them are underage and drinking.

 

[matou]

This crap has to stop. Yet another case where a victim does not get any justice and instead is revictimized. No charges for the photo or it's distribution again. RIP brave young woman.

 

[matou]

OH PLEASE. If she was drinking IT DOESN'T MATTER. JMO

 

[JeannaT]

There is VERY little information here to go on, Matou. We don't know what happened other than what her mother says, who wasn't there and didn't learn about what happened until several days later when it was too late to do forensic evidence.

What we do know is there was a photo of some sex act that LE declined to press charges about, all the participants were minors.

We also know that after her family moved her to a new school to give her a fresh start she was STILL receiving messages - often from strangers - asking for sex.

How did THAT happen is what I'd like to know. How was she made to keep the same phone number, the same internet/social media ID, where there is no where on the globe she could go and not keep accessing this abuse?

That harrassment, in my opinion, is black and white.

The sexual behavior - I don't know.

 

[Confusion]

There is VERY little information here to go on, Matou. We don't know what happened other than what her mother says, who wasn't there and didn't learn about what happened until several days later when it was too late to do forensic evidence.

What we do know is there was a photo of some sex act that LE declined to press charges about, all the participants were minors.

We also know that after her family moved her to a new school to give her a fresh start she was STILL receiving messages - often from strangers - asking for sex.

How did THAT happen is what I'd like to know. How was she made to keep the same phone number, the same internet/social media ID, where there is no where on the globe she could go and not keep accessing this abuse?

That harrassment, in my opinion, is black and white.

The sexual behavior - I don't know.

And that is why so many sexual assaults go unreported. MOO

 

[kmclaren]

It's not completely clear what the picture was of. It was her, in a sex act with a boy, but it's not clear the photo appeared to be an assault vs. a consensual act.

Once again, as this is usually the case, this incident happened at a party with drinking kids. The water becomes very, very muddy when there is no lab evidence of what happened, and there is one possibly blurry picture and all of them are underage and drinking.

Not that it matters, but I did not see any reference to it being a "party" with drinking kids. I read that her and a friend went to another friends house - and these boys were there.

 

[JeannaT]

Not that it matters, but I did not see any reference to it being a "party" with drinking kids. I read that her and a friend went to another friends house - and these boys were there.

Well, actually, it does matter. When you see stories posted on the internet, check it out further. You rarely get the whole story on a forum.

Sometimes when you see an article posted on this board, it's helpful to google it to get the full story.

Takes less than a minute.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...-girl-dies-suicide-rape-canada_n_3045033.html

 

[alllads]

So what if they were drinking? Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, of teenagers around the world drink together, even get absolutely incredibly drunk together, without raping someone and taking pictures.

 

[kmclaren]

Well, actually, it does matter. When you see stories posted on the internet, check it out further. You rarely get the whole story on a forum.

Sometimes when you see an article posted on this board, it's helpful to google it to get the full story.

Takes less than a minute.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...-girl-dies-suicide-rape-canada_n_3045033.html

i meant, it doesn't matter whether or not she had a drink with these boys. my DD was at a friends house last weekend with some others - she is same age, 15 - she was offered a drink but did not come home raped by a bunch of her school buddies...

 

[JeannaT]

Her mother's memorial facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/RipRehtaehParsons?fref=ts

 

[kmclaren]

Her mother's memorial facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/RipRehtaehParsons?fref=ts

that link is a memorial page, it's not her mother's - it states that in a post from yesterday afternoon and refers people to this one, the original one started by her mother:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angel-Rehtaeh/352644484835299?fref=ts

 

[matou]

I just saw the mother on HLN and Vinnie Politan discussed this story.

 

[JeannaT]

The facebook page is now announcing a vigil for her tomorrow evening, 7 p.m. at Victoria park.

 

[JeannaT]

Her father's blog, posted today.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1122650-rehtaeh-parsons-was-my-daughter#.UWX3XV3sVSM.facebook

 

[Justiceforever]

Her father's blog, posted today.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1122650-rehtaeh-parsons-was-my-daughter#.UWX3XV3sVSM.facebook

My prayers go out to him and her mother. What an incredibly heart wrenching, tear jerking tragedy!

 

[greenthumb]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2013/04/10/ns-rehtaeh-suicide-reaction-todd.html

The mother of a Halifax teenager who killed herself after allegedly being raped and photographed by four boys is making a public plea for people to leave the boys linked to the allegations alone.

"I want the justice system to go after those boys for sending those pictures, she was 15 years old," Parsons said. "I don't want people to go after those boys. People are threatening to do that."

IMO, this is what happens when LE & the justice system is not seen as protecting citizens' rights - people feel the need to take justice into their own hands. I am very happy to read that there will be a review of this case -

Meanwhile, Nova Scotia's Justice Minister Ross Landry says he's considering new laws when it comes to allegations of sexual assault and distribution of child pornography.

Landry initially said his department can’t second-guess every police investigation, but late on Tuesday he said he was giving officials in his department approval to review the case, and present him with options by the end of the week.

Wednesday morning, an online petition calling for an inquiry into the police investigation had garnered more than 6,000 signatures. By Wednesday night that number jumped to more than 42,000 signatures.

Link to petition here - now over 59,000 signatures -
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/justice-for-rehtaeh-demand-an-independent-inquiry-into-the-police-investigation?utm_campaign=new_signature&utm_medium=email&utm_source=signature_receipt#share

 

[JeannaT]

In my opinion, this has nothing to do with LE's reaction to a situation. Remember how the public reacted in Casey Anthony's investigation when cops were doing EVERYTHING humanly possible to solve that awful crime? There were hotheads parked out in front of the grandparents house every day. With the Scott Peterson trial, (again, no one could accuse LE of not persuing that case with vigor) there were mobs in front of the courtroom, streams of cars driving by the house, crazy people following Scott Peterson and mobs gathered outside when he was escorted by LE between courts threatening to attack the car!

I find this VERY frightening. The power of the internet to focus frenzied angry mobs of strangers who have no connection whatsoever to a case - and they can become terribly dangerous.

Good for Mom for stepping in and asking for some civility here. In her time of grief, that's really a very gracious and selfless act.