Canada Cyber Bullying Case: Two Arrested Over Death of Bullied Nova Scotia Teen
Police authorities have arrested two men, both aged 18, in a landmark cyber bullying case that led to the suicide death of a teenage girl in Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the two will remain unidentified because they were still minors when the crimes being alleged to them occurred. One has been charged with two counts of distributing child pornography, while the second was charged with making child pornography and distributing it.
However, charges of possible sexual assault remain unclear because police failed to gather sufficient evidence.
Although glad over the arrests, Glen Canning, father of Rehtaeh Parsons, did compare them to useless spilled milk.
"She's dead now. She's gone," Rehtaeh's mournful dad said. Rehtaeh was a Halifax teen who hanged herself after months of being cyber bullied after photos of an alleged sexual assault went viral online.
"We're just hopeful there's charges laid and others to arrest; hoping that they're finally willing to tell their side of the story," Leah, Rehtaeh's mother, told the Canadian Press.
"At one point I thought I was going to cry and at the other point I was just almost in shock," Glen told CTV News in an interview at his home.
"We have waited such a long time for something to come out of this. I was just emotionally divided."
Police initially shunned the alleged assault and the photo, saying it's a case impossible to pursue. But Rehtaeh's highly public death, who was taken off life-support in April after she hanged herself in her Halifax home, prompted the authorities to reopen the investigation. It so happened that at that time, new information surfaced.
"I feel that the investigation wasn't handled properly from the beginning and I've never seen the file, so I don't really know why or how that happened," Leah said. "I'm just glad that it was reopened, and I'm really happy that they have two people to question."
On Wednesday, Nova Scotia effected a new law allowing people to press charges against individuals who are cyber bullying them. Victims may also seek a protection order that could point to the identity of the cyberbully.