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When is this madness going to stop???
Rehtaeh Parsons, 17 from Nova Scotia attempted to commit suicide last week, and died on Sunday after she was taunted for being raped back in 2011 and then cyberbullied for almost two years.
The craziness happened when Parsons went to a party with a friend when she was only 15. Rehtaeh was reported to have been drinking vodka that night, which made her throw up out of a window and was then unfortunately raped. But what made the occurrence even more horrible was that photos of the teenager were taken while she was being sexually assaulted.
The next day, Parsons admitted that she only remembered segments of the night, but she did recall a guy yelling “take a picture, take a picture,├óΓé¼┬¥ while the other guy was raping her.
Rehtaeh’s mother, Leah Parsons notes that after that night was over and the picture circulated three days later, “everyone [at school] started calling her a slut,” and that’s when her depression began.
Police were then called in to investigate the crime, but they concluded that the case was a “he said she said,” which meant that there wasn’t enough evidence to even charge anyone with anything.
RCMP Cpl. Scott MacRae said:
“We have to deal in facts and not rumors. We may not be able to go down certain roads because of the tragic circumstance. I feel like the door is always open for people to talk to a police agency.”
The Parsons family was also told that the pics were not a criminal issue even though Rehtaeh was underage, so Leah decided to pack up her things and family and moved from Cole Harbour to Halifax in order to try to make her daughter’s life better.
But unfortunately for the teenager she was just never left alone.
Leah shared:
“Her friends turned against her, people harassed her, boys she didn├óΓé¼Γäót know started texting her and Facebooking asking her to have sex with them since she had had sex with their friends. It just never stopped. Every text, every negative thing she would read to me. It was hard. She tried and she kept trying.
I think she would have had some satisfaction that it was real [if there were charges], because no one believed her. I think kids today listen to a story and if that├óΓé¼Γäós the most sensational story to go with they jump on that and they don├óΓé¼Γäót care how it hurts other people. It├óΓé¼Γäós just too easy to Facebook and text, to say and do mean things. They just jump with the rest of them.”
We’re very saddened to hear that cyberbullying is very alive, and only wish that it will stop.
Our condolences go out to the Parsons family.
[Image via Facebook.]
