Teen Girl Commits Suicide After Photo Of Four Classmates Forcing Sex On Her Goes Viral

via Think Progress

Seventeen months ago, a Canadian teen was allegedly g**g-r*ped by four of her peers and the photo evidence of the incident spread across her community.

But unlike the situation that unfolded in Steubenville, where the victim was at least given the comfort of knowing her assailants received some measure of punishment, this case ended in tragedy: The victim was taken off life support by her family on Sunday, three days after attempting to end her own life.

According to her mother Leah Parsons, Rehtaeh was subject to significant bullying from her peers, who labeled her as a “s*ut”:

“The [p]erson Rehtaeh once was all changed one dreaded night in November 2011. She went with a friend to another’s home. In that home she was [sexually assaulted] by four young boys…one of those boys took a photo of her being [taken advantage of] and decided it would be fun to distribute the photo to everyone in Rehtaeh’s school and community where it quickly went viral.”

Parsons didn’t know about the assault until days after it happened, when Rehteah broke down in the kitchen crying. At that point, it was too late for a r*pe kit — which may have contributed to the fact that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) dropped their investigation after a year without charges.