Two boys appeared in court Thursday on pornography charges in connection with the suicide of 17 year-old Rehteah Parsons last April. Her parents say she was sexually assaulted at a house party when she was 15 and a digital photograph of the alleged assault was circulated on-line and at school.
Relentless harassment and humiliation followed for months until the teen became depressed, attempted suicide and died a few days later.
Police originally said they would lay no charges in the case, but recently announced they had new evidence and arrested two 18 year-old boys on suspicion of creating and circulating child pornography. Because they were juveniles at the time of the alleged offences their identities are protected.
would face child pornography charges in connection with
the Rehtaeh Parsons case. © Mike Dembeck/Canadian Press
Cross-country controversy
The case raised a storm of controversy where it occurred in the east coast province of Nova Scotia and right across Canada and beyond. People wondered why sexual assault charges were never filed, but police at the time cited a lack of evidence.
While it is unusual for child pornography charges to be laid against minors, it’s not the first time this has happened in Canada.
“We have seen in Canada circumstances where young people have taken images of themselves or each other, then have distributed them more widely rather than just having them for their own personal use,” said David Fraser, an internet and privacy lawyer in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “And that would take it out of that personal use category and put it into criminal conduct related to the distribution much more widely of child pornography.”
No sexual assault charges
Why no charges of sexual assault are being filed is a question Fraser too asks. The lawyer hopes more information will come out during this trial as well as during an independent review of the police and prosecutors’ handling of the case “so that we can understand: Was it a lack of evidence? Did the police make some mistakes? Were there avenues that they didn’t pursue? Or did they do everything they could with the information that they had?”
Whether criminal charges are the best way to handle cases of cyberbullying is not clear to Fraser.
“(Rehteah) suffered a lot of harassment and taunting by her peers,” he said. “And these charges focus on only one very narrow part of it and also, focus on only two individuals … but there have been no charges laid against any of those other people who would have been involved in the continual bullying and harassment of Rehteah Parsons that lead right up until the time of her death.”
Widespread focus on cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is getting much more attention and Fraser is glad of that. It is an issue that he feels must be dealt with by many sectors of society. “It cuts across the criminal law, the civil justice system, the mental health system, the schools and our wider communities.” He notes that several provinces are looking at how to prevent cyberbullying, how to deal with it and how to better aid victims of it.
Whether the accused in this case will get a fair trial has been questioned by one of the defence lawyers given the extensive negative commentary appearing on social media now. But Fraser is confident the judge in this case will ignore it and ensure the accused are presumed innocent unless they are proven to be guilty without a shadow of a doubt. It is clear this case will be closely watched by authorities and the public. The accused return to court September 19th.
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