Rehtaeh Parsons: Rape and Cyberbullying Victim Commits Suicide, Teenager’s Death Creates Internet Outrage [PHOTOS]
Rehtaeh Parsons, the 17-year-old Canadian victim of rape and cyberbullying commits suicide after her classmates exposed the images of the gang rape incident on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. The tragic death news created an internet outrage with most users blaming the harsh society as the reason why Rehtaeh Parsons took her own life.
According to Leah Parsons, the victim's mother, Rehtaeh hung herself in the bathroom last week due to continuous bullying and harassment from her schoolmates. The teenage girl reportedly went into a state of coma until her family painfully decided on Sunday, April 7, to pull out the life support.
Leah Parsons created a memorial Facebook page for Rehtaeh and she bravely posted the appalling experiences of her daughter. The grieving mother revealed that four boys raped Rehtaeh at a friend's house when she was 15 and one boy even had the nerve to photograph the crime.
Later on, the rape photograph was distributed to almost everyone at Cole Harbour High School. "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 in Halifax," Leah Parsons shared on the Facebook page.
"People texted her all the time saying 'Will you have sex with me?' and 'You're such a slut'," Leah further revealed. Rehtaeh's mother continued to post on the Facebook page where she attacked the people responsible for her daughter's death such as the four boys who raped Rehtaeh, the school bullies and the justice system.
Leah Parsons wrote a heart-breaking message on the memorial Facebook page that reads: "Those are the people that took the life of my beautiful girl. Rehtaeh stood up for others, showed compassion to animals and people. She was an amazing artist. She made my life complete. When Rehtaeh was born, I dedicated everything to her and promised her the world. Others in this world took that away from her."
Numerous social networking groups and web site petitions are now emerging to show support, seek justice and even urge vigilantism for the case of Rehtaeh Parsons. Thousands of people are angrily demanding for a thorough police investigation to be carried out.
"It should take a village to bring these people to justice, no matter who they are, how old they are. This is just disgusting," stated Gay MacKay, a resident of Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia. For Wayne MacKay, the Nova Scotia's Cyberbullying Task Force Chair, teenagers like Rehtaeh Parsons will continue to experience the feeling of helplessness if the necessary measures are not done.
"As a society and a government with various government institutions, we are responsible to do everything we can to prevent this," Wayne MacKay declared. Meanwhile, the police reportedly conducted an investigation on rape crime but there was not enough evidence to press charges so nobody was held responsible for the death of Rehtaeh Parsons.
