Teenager commits suicide after photograph of her 'being gang-raped' goes viral

[Samstwitch]

Teenager commits suicide after photograph of her 'being gang-raped' goes viral

A Canadian teenager committed suicide after photos allegedly showing her being gang-raped spread through her school, her family has said.

Rehtaeh Parsons, 17, was found by her mother in the bathroom of their family home in Nova Scotia shortly after she hanged herself.

Her family said her suicide was the result of almost two years of bullying and depression after a photo purporting to show her being raped by four boys went viral and spread through her school in Dartmouth.

The photo of the incident reportedly also included one of the boys present posing with a smile and a thumbs up.

Speaking to CTV News in Canada, Leah Parsons said the attack occurred in November 2011 when her daughter was just 15. After drinking vodka with others at a friend's house, Rehtaeh soon became heavily intoxicated.

"The group began drinking vodka straight. Rehtaeh didn't remember all of it [but] she remembers a guy leading her up the stairs [and] guys taking turns on top of her."

It was then that the boys took pictures of the attack and of her vomiting out the window.
Her mother said severe bullying and trauma following the incident meant Rehtaeh never fully recovered. According to Ms Parsons, Rehtaeh was repeatedly called a "slut" by fellow pupils and regularly received text messages jokingly asking for sex.

Despite moving schools and to a different community entirely, she continued to suffer from depression and was forced to spend almost six weeks in hospital as she became increasingly suicidal.

She hanged herself on Thursday and was taken off life support by her family on Sunday evening.
In a Facebook page dedicated to the memory of Rehtaeh, which has received support from over 10,000 people, Ms Parsons recalled how the attack had scarred her daughter.

"This day changed the lives of our family forever," she wrote.

"Rehtaeh was suddenly shunned by almost everyone she knew, the harassment was so bad she had to move out of her own community to try to start anew.

"She acted on an impulse but I truly in my heart of hearts do not feel she meant to kill herself."

The police did not arrest or convict anyone in connection with the incident, citing a lack of evidence. Authorities have not yet responded to a request from The Telegraph for comment.
Justice Minister Ross Landry has reportedly said he hoped to meet with Ms Parsons soon to discuss the case.

The incident comes just months after another young Canadian teenager took her own life when a topless picture of her taken when she was just 12 spread over the internet.

Amanda Todd, who died aged 15, spiraled into depression and suffered panic attacks after the stranger who recorded the photo blackmailed and harassed her over the internet.

Following her suicide, a motion was introduced in Parliament urging for a study into the scope of bullying in Canada and to do more to support anti-bullying organisations.

At the end of her tribute to her daughter, Ms Parsons attributed blame to those she thought most responsible for her death. "Rehtaeh is gone today because of the four boys that thought that raping a 15-year-old girl was ok, and to distribute a photo to ruin her spirit and reputation would be fun," she said. "Secondly, all the bullying and messaging and harassment that never let up are also to blame. Lastly, the justice system failed her. Those are the people that took the life of my beautiful girl."

• Hackers 'Anonymous' threatens to name 'rapists' of teen

 

[Samstwitch]

OMG, here is ANOTHER story where the same thing happened...another girl committed suicide for the same reason!!!


3 teens arrested for assault after girl's suicide

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Eight days after allegedly being sexually battered while passed out at a party, and then humiliated by online photos of the assault, 15-year-old Audrie Pott posted on Facebook that her life was ruined, "worst day ever," and hanged herself.

For the next eight months, her family struggled to figure out what happened to their soccer loving, artistic, horse crazy daughter, whose gentle smile, long dark hair and shining eyes did not bely a struggling soul.

And then on Thursday, seven months after the tragedy, a Northern California sheriff's office arrested three 16-year-old boys on charges of sexual battery.

"The family has been trying to understand why their loving daughter would have taken her life at such a young age and to make sure that those responsible would be held accountable," said family attorney Robert Allard.

"After an extensive investigation that we have conducted on behalf of the family, there is no doubt in our minds that the victim, then only 15 years old, was savagely assaulted by her fellow high school students while she lay on a bed completely unconscious."

Allard said students used cell phones to share photos of the attack, and that the images went viral.

Santa Clara County Sheriff's Lt. Jose Cardoza said it arrested two of the teens at Saratoga High School and the third, a former Saratoga High student, at Christopher High School in Gilroy on Thursday. The names of the suspects were not released because they are minors.

Cardoza said the suspects were booked into juvenile hall and face two felonies and one misdemeanor each, all related to sexual battery that allegedly occurred at a Saratoga house party.

The lieutenant said the arrests were the result of information gathered by his agency's Saratoga High School resource officers. He said the investigation is ongoing, and Los Gatos police also continue looking into the girl's September suicide.

The Associated Press does not, as a rule, identify victims of sexual assault. But in this case, Pott's family wanted her name and case known, Allard said. The family also provided a photo to the AP.

The girl's family members did not comment and have requested privacy until a planned news conference Tuesday. Her father and step-mother Lawrence and Lisa Pott, along with her mother Sheila Pott, have started the Audrie Pott Foundation (audriepottfoundation.com) to provide music and art scholarships and offer youth counseling and support.

The foundation website alludes to the teen's struggles, but until now neither law enforcement, school officials nor family have discussed the sexual battery.

"She was compassionate about life, her friends, her family, and would never do anything to harm anyone," the site says. "She was in the process of developing the ability to cope with the cruelty of this world but had not quite figured it all out.

"Ultimately, she had not yet acquired the antibiotics to deal with the challenges present for teens in today's society."

On the day Pott died, Saratoga High School principal Paul Robinson announced her death, stunning classmates. Two days later other students and staff wore her favorite color, teal, in her honor.

Robinson wasn't immediately available for comment Thursday.

The Pott family is not alone.

In Canada on Thursday, authorities said they are looking further into the case of a teenage girl who hanged herself Sunday after an alleged rape and months of bullying. A photo said to be of the 2011 assault on 17-year-old Rehtaeh Parsons was shared online.

No charges initially were filed against four teenage boys being investigated. But after an outcry, Nova Scotia's justice minister appointed four government departments to look into Parsons' case.

 

[BlastTyrant]

It's a shame she was really pretty, this is common i have had several female friends get "roofied" while out at bars. Sick world we live in, If it was my daughter each of those kids would have a 30.06 round through their heads.

 

[Samstwitch]

Lawyer: Family to file wrongful death suit against teens accused of assaulting Audrie Pott

The family of Audrie Pott, the 15-year-old girl who killed herself after learning she was allegedly raped by schoolmates at a party in September, has directed its lawyer to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the three 16-year-old boys accused of assaulting her.

"We intend to prove in a court of law that her death was related to what they did," attorney Bob Allard told Yahoo! News on Sunday.

Allard said the decision was precipitated by comments made by the defendants' lawyers over the weekend, in which they said the boys should be "regarded as innocent." They further advised the public to reserve judgment about the case.

"Much of what has been reported over the last several days is inaccurate," said the suspects' three attorneys, Eric S. Geffon, Alan M. Lagod and Benjamin W. Williams, in a statement reported by the Los Angeles Times. "Most disturbing is the attempt to link [Audrie's] suicide to the specific actions of these three boys."

Allard said the Pott family was deeply distressed over that statement, and that it "sent them over the edge." He accused the opposing lawyers of using a so-called "blame the dead victim defense."

Police say Pott was assaulted at a party by schoolmates at a house near San Jose, Calif. while she was passed out. Eight days later, Allard says Pott learned photos had been taken of the alleged assault, and shared on social media. "Worst day ever," Pott wrote on her Facebook page. She then hanged herself.

"There's no doubt that the combination of the assault and the torture by cyberbullying caused Audrie to end her life," Allard told Yahoo! News Friday.

The names of the suspects, who were arrested at their schools on Thursday and charged with sexual battery, were not released because they are minors. Yahoo! News does not normally release the name of alleged sexual assault victims, but the Pott family wanted Audrie's name known.

Allard said he will file the complaint Monday. The family is also planning a news conference at 11 a.m. PT on Monday in Allard's law office, a day sooner than originally planned.

 

[TnWatchdog]

It's a shame she was really pretty, this is common i have had several female friends get "roofied" while out at bars. Sick world we live in, If it was my daughter each of those kids would have a 30.06 round through their heads.

I have three daughters and agree with what you are saying. I'm fairly laid back with a peaceful nature, but anyone harming my family...it wouldn't be pretty.

 

[Samstwitch]

The details are disgusting! The cowards didn't even get expelled. They need to be tried as ADULTS!


Lawyer: Assaulted teen had drawings, name on body


SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Awakening in a friend's bedroom after drinking too much at a sleepover, 15-year-old Audrie Pott looked down and realized she had been sexually assaulted and her attackers had written and drawn on intimate parts of her body, her family's attorney said Monday.

Over the next week, she pieced together one horrifying detail after another. She went online and tried to confront the three boys she had known since junior high who she believed had done it.

At school, she saw a group of students huddled around a cellphone and realized that at least one humiliating photo of her was circulating.

"I have a reputation for a night I don't even remember and the whole school knows," she wrote in one Facebook message to a friend.

"I cried when I found out what they did," she wrote in another.

Eight days after the attack, she called and asked her mother to pick her up at school. She said she couldn't deal with it anymore but would not say what was wrong.

And then she hanged herself.

The Pott family disclosed the new details of the ordeal at an emotional news conference Monday in San Jose, discussing painful details of what their daughter was put through and demanding that three 16-year-old boys arrested eight months after the assault be tried as adults — a move that would be highly unlikely under California law.

The family also filed a lawsuit Monday against the three suspects and their parents, claiming the boys removed Audrie's shorts and "digitally penetrated her, and/or penetrated her with a foreign object, and/or sexually abused her" after she drank alcohol and passed out.

CLICK ME TO READ MORE

[For some reason I can't post the rest of the article. Click the link above to see full story.]

 

[BlastTyrant]

Sam, not sure if it is just me but i see the Boston story under the photo.

 

[Samstwitch]

Sam, not sure if it is just me but i see the Boston story under the photo.

Thanks for the heads-up BT. I'm trying to post the correct content now, but having trouble. Click on the headline to see the full article.