Follow up of teengage Canadian gang rape victim who committed suicide

[BainsBane]

I know there have been several similar incidents, but members may recall Rehtaeh Parsons. Police never filed charges after the rape, despite the fact the rapists posted pictures on social media. She was tormented by many sick people, until she killed herself. Retaeh Parsons was only 15 at the time of the rape.

RIP Rehtaeh.




2 face charges in case of Canadian girl who hanged self after alleged rape

Two 18-year-old men face child pornography charges in connection with the case of a 17-year-old girl who hanged herself after she was allegedly gang-raped and bullied online, Canadian authorities said Thursday evening.

A police statement did not provide details, but the family of Rehtaeh Parsons has said she developed suicidal thoughts after she was sexually assaulted in 2011 and a picture of the incident was shared by phone and online.

The two men whose names were not released were arrested Thursday morning at their homes in Halifax, Nova Scotia, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Halifax Regional Police.
One man faces two counts of distribution of child pornography, authorities said. The other is accused of one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of making child pornography. . .

Police investigated, but no criminal charges were filed at that time. In April, police in eastern Canada announced they would reopen the case "in light of new and credible information that has recently been brought forward to police."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/08/world/americas/canada-teen-suicide-arrests/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

[Lunacee_2013]

1. K&R, nt 'cause words fail me....

[Delphinus]

2. ...

[Stargazer09]

3. ....

[NuclearDem]

4. ...

[Hydra]

5. .

[Squinch]

6. Thank you for posting this.

[BainsBane]

8. FB page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/RIP-Rehtaeh-Parsons/630786150281417
R.I.P Rehtaeh Parsons

[Suziq]

7. ......

[LittleBlue]

9. Child porn? How about manslaughter

Didn't at least one of these men torment her to suicide? It's a shame that he couldn't be charged with her actual death, seeing as he drove her to that state.

Poor girl

[BainsBane]

10. The parents might get a civil judgement on that basis

but not criminal.

[BainsBane]

11. . . .

[BainsBane]

12. This case deserves more attention

[Posteritatis]

17. It's become a fixture in the news here in town.

Very rarely off the front page for more than a couple of days, and back there full time since the arrests.

[BainsBane]

19. Which town is that?

[Posteritatis]

20. Halifax, where this whole thing's been going down

I attended one of the two high schools Rehtaeh went to - the second one, that she transferred to in an attempt to escape the bullying. Can see it out my window.

The whole thing's profoundly impacted how the town (and the province) views bullying. This time last year it would have been met with the usual indifference - "kids will be kids," the herd of standard douchebags not just indifferent but actively endorsing bullying because it builds character, etc. Some of those are still around, but the Parsons situation shifted attitudes more thoroughly than I've seen anything do so in this province in years. People were furious in April, many of them still are now, and a lot of them still have no interest, none whatsoever, in allowing this to drop off the radar.

[BainsBane]

22. What about how they see rape?

That's really the issue. The girl was raped and the cops didn't arrest the criminals. That of course is not limited to Halifax, but if it has had an impact, I hope it has raised awareness of rape and the pitiful prosecution of that crime.

[Posteritatis]

23. So far it looks like they're trying to identify the assailants

They got what seems to be two of the people who were distributing the images, and I'd be floored if those turn out to be the only two arrests in the situation. (I'm expecting rather more, possibly including staff at the school for sitting on information.) A bunch of people were questioned back in May, and a few others came forward to offer information on their own initiative; especially since people are so pissed about the situation it looks like the cops are erring on the side of "slow and thorough" rather than the quarter-assed job they did after the initial assault.

It's mostly being discussed in terms of the subsequent harassment and institutional indifference - and mostly in its own right, instead of treating something prefixed with the word "cyber" as a different, lesser offence - but there's been a lot of discussion about the rape angle as well. The victim blaming angle in particular (yes, she was drunk; so fucking what?) is getting nicely dismantled every time one moron or another brings it up. (Or if people actually try to campaign on that, like a bunch of people who were likely the assailants and their friends tried with a flyer campaign in the spring. Morons.)

[BainsBane]

24. Didn't the girl know them?

I thought she told the police who raped her? Sorry if I don't have the facts right on this. We've haven't had the coverage of it you have.

[Posteritatis]

25. She may not have, given the original assault

She was intoxicated and it was one of those stereotypical largescale everyone's-there parties, so she may have been unable to report things clearly. The whole school basically closing ranks against her immediately afterwards - CHDHS is a cesspit - would make that even harder. The earliest details of the case haven't gotten nearly as much coverage here; the whole case didn't start dominating the headlines until Rehtaeh attempted suicide, which was over a year after the initial assault. The specific details of the early investigation are mostly closed off due to how Canadian law handles information surrounding any criminal investigation involving a minor; if she did (or could) name names I wouldn't be in a position to know them.

What basically happened in 2011 is that the cops made a cursory initial investigation, quickly decided there wasn't anything specific enough to press charges (pull the other one, it's got bells on) and dropped the case. It was that standard dismissiveness these sorts of things have, where they assumed it was a "he said she said" situation, added some victim blaming onto that, looked at the school itself refusing to help the investigation, and just gave up. Now that the whole thing's killed somebody people are definitely looking closer at things.

There's some indication that some vigilante groups, or fellow students who've discovered some spare vertebrae, have some names and have threatened to publicly release them; the cops are being pretty clear that that won't be tolerated, though they're also soliciting those groups or people to come forward with information. That's happened a few times, and some of them doing just that back in the spring is actually what led to the case being formally reopened.

The details of the initial assault, in terms of who did what, are still pretty confused. What happened afterwards is much less so at this point, but I don't really think people are going to be satisfied until at least a few people are up on rape charges in addition to all the subsequent bullshit. The fact that it's drawn in some nasty MRA activism at the same time really isn't doing wonders for the public's patience with it...

[BainsBane]

26. I bet you anything the kids at the school know who the rapists are

Kids talk. Those boys probably bragged about how they scored.

[Posteritatis]

27. Oh, I am utterly, utterly certain they do

I'm equally certain the boys did, and I'm equally certain their friends were the ones who spent a week or so trying to organize the whole "4 da boyz" campaign where they leafleted neighborhoods claiming "the truth" about Rehtaeh was out there if only the feminists would go away and let us see it, etc. (Barf.) At this point it'll just take a few people coming forward, or cracking under questioning, to hopefully begin unraveling the whole ball of wax. Of course, at this point most people who'd know something have known something and sat on it for a year and a half; anyone who talks will (deservedly) get in trouble as well, and the cowards probably know that. But if they have two of them already...

I am also certain at least some school officials knew some of the story too. That school in particular has always had problems, and I can see its administration being media-averse enough to try to sit on something rather than earn national attention in Canadian news (again). That didn't help them this time, of course, and I seem to have misplaced sympathy for them...

Anyway, it is officially Stupid O'Clock here so I'm gonna go fall over. I'm trying to pay attention to threads about this as they pop up on DU and continue pitching in; I assume the local perspective can help, and as tragic as the situation is it's at least a little heartening to see a town not going entirely Steubenville on the victims. (The school specifically, yes. The city? Oh hell no.)

[BainsBane]

28. Thanks for all the info

very helpful. Have a good night.

[davidpdx]

13. This sounds like Stubenville all over again

I hope someone does some digging and publishes information like in that case.

[Posteritatis]

16. They might not have to at this point considering the way the case has been going

Shortly after the whole thing blew up, some people went to the cops with specific information that seems to have led to these arrests and charges after some investigation. I'd be absolutely stunned if more people didn't go down over it, considering the initial offense and the fact that a lot of students acquiesced.

[davidpdx]

18. Sounds like less of a coverup

Glad to hear most of it is coming out.

[Posteritatis]

21. The police 'reaction' last time strikes me as indifference/ineptitude

They investigated, but in a cursory way and starting on the assumption that Kids Will Be Kids, etc. When they took a magnifying glass instead of a brief blinkered glance to the situation things started moving.

The school itself, though? If the administration knew details about what was going on I would not be wracked with astonishment. They said outright they didn't speak to any of the kids allegedly involved "so as not to interfere with the police," but they certainly didn't deluge the cops with information either. School administrators here, like in most other districts, had an abysmal attitude towards bullying until, well, this happened. Now they're all scrambling to see who can see the light most clearly.

[arely staircase]

14. John 11:35

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+11%3A35&version=ESV

[BainsBane]

15. Indeed

This is a tragic situation.