The name Rehtaeh Parsons has been synonymous with cyber bullying and sexual exploitation ever since the Canadian teenager killed herself in April 2013.
Rehtaeh suffered through 17 months of severe harassment after a photo of her being sexually assaulted while vomiting and half naked circulated around her school in 2011, when she was only 15 years old.
I previously wrote a blog story about Rehateh's case -For more complete information-CLICK HERE.
The now 20-year-old from Eastern Passage who took the photos pleaded guilty in September to making child pornography involving a teenage girl.
The trial of this young man who took these photos of her being gang raped, was held this week on November 13, 2014.
Once again Rehateh Parsons and her family were victimized by a blind, cruel, dysfunctional legal system.
Once again this is Canada's SHAME.
As for the trial, the Judge acting as the ringmaster of this circus of injustice sentenced this young man to a one-year conditional discharge.
When the now-20-year-old man who took the photo of his friend penetrating Rehtaeh from behind while giving a thumbs-up sign pled guilty to one count of manufacturing child pornography, no Canadian media outlet was allowed to refer to Rehtaeh by name.
The media ban is due to a Canadian law that requires judges to prohibit the publication of information that could identify victims of child pornography under any and all circumstances. Nor could they name her parents, who have been actively fighting for justice since her death, or provide any background details about the notorious case.
Rehtaeh’s mother, Leah Parsons, said that, in life, her daughter wanted her name to be shouted as loud as possible.“She’s being silenced for the second time,” Leah said. “What happened to Rehtaeh matters, and it’s not right to silence her".
This law is a perfect example of how criminals and their Lawyers are allowed to manipulate the Court system to erase, dehumanize victims, while hiding behind the words of legal language that end up protecting the evil.
In treating Rehateh Parsons , the victim as a non person, referring to her as "the girl who was allegedly raped" she becomes non existent, her life dismissed as if she never lived.
In treating the accused boys by referring to them as "the young men" they are allowed to avoid the accountability for their actions. They are not men, but are beasts, who certainly have no remorse for what they did to Rehateh.
These "young men" have never been identified by the mainstream media and have been taught by the Canadian law enforcement agencies, the Court system that they can do as they please to torture another human being, with no fear of punishment for what they have done.
Rehtaeh Parsons's is her name!..we will never forget you and your name will not be buried or silent. She was a human being who lived.
I felt compelled to write my Blog today about Rehateh and the attempts by those in Authority to erase her name and her life. I also feel compelled to reblog you the names of the accused (identified by the group "ANONYMOUS"), "young men" who tortured Rehateh and have hidden behind the law to avoid being known for their evil.
The information below has been REBLOGGED (CLICK HERE) from "" which posted the names and information of the accused ON NOVEMBER 14th, 2014.
Please note: While my blog
publishes outside Canadian jurisdiction, I have avoided any direct or inadvertent violation of sections
110(1) and 111(1) of the Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act
(YCJA) and other pertinent statutes, by simply reblogging the following information as it is written directly on the website "Obscene Works".
Since I am unaware of the true
identities of any individuals involved in any secret proceedings, I can
neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of their written information post and merely reblogging this information as is stated by them.
If you have evidence that the "Obscene Works" post does indeed breach the provisions of the YCJA, please contact them directly at obsceneworks@gmail.com so that they may alter or delete their post as required to ensure compliance with relevant statutes.
The Obscene Works" Website post stated as follows:
"Kyle Brimicombe, Cody Allen Gosbee, Hunter Shippien and Cole Shippien raped Rehtaeh Parsons.
Anonymous, however, seems to have an agenda outside the bonds which bind the mainstream Canadian press.
Members of this stand-alone complex have been investigating the case ever since Warren Kinsella demanded their assistance in April of 2013.
The results of their research have now been posted to the text-sharing site Pastebin.
Specifically, in addition to identifying Rehtaeh Parsons as the victim of a heinous assault, they name one Cole Shippien as the photographer. Also accused of sexual assault are Kyle Brimicombe, Cody Allen Gosbee and Cole’s younger brother Hunter Shippien.
In addition, the document lists several other suspects who were ruled out over the course of the investigation, along with further “dox” information and evidence.
Of course, the probative value of information gleaned from anonymous sources is almost always zero. All reporting on the court case recently concluded has been so heavily redacted that we can’t know if it’s even related to Parsons’ tragedy at all.
That said, however, given the current push towards an open dialog surrounding sexual assault in Canada, and whereas Rehtaeh is dead and unable to seek recompense at her own behest, and whereas even her own parents are barred from publishing her name, by a law ostensibly enacted in her honour, our moral duty to act as her voice overrides our possible proscribed duty under statute to shut the fuck up and not talk about it.
Are these boys actually guilty? Are they even related to the proceedings that just concluded? We have no idea.
Perhaps journalists in Canada should stop hiding behind the law, and ask them."
“We speak for the dead,
to protect the living.”
(End of Reblog from Obscene Works Website)
(End of Reblog from Obscene Works Website)
Filed with the Court were victim impact statements by the parents of Rehateh Parsons. Even their daughters name has been redacted by the Court from their heartfelt statements and Rehateh is referred to as "the girl".
This disgusting vulgar and cruel dehumanization by the Canadian courts in removing Rehatehs name by redacting her humanity in calling her "the girl", even in these victim impact statements written by her loving parents, is the ultimate mockery of any legal, moral, ethical pretense of justice served by the law.
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS: Read the victim's parents' words
TRENDING: The hashtag #youknowhername
Judge Gregory Lenehan also ordered the young man to provide a sample of his DNA for a national data bank.
Prosecutor Alex Smith told the judge his sentencing options were a conditional discharge, which was favoured by the defence, or a period of probation.
Lenehan, in his decision, said the young man “should never forget the promising, vibrant young life that was eventually destroyed by his choice to record an act of sexual degradation.”
“In a few seconds, (you) set in motion a series of events that led to a great deal of shame, humiliation, anger, despair, anguish, loss, hurt and destruction for (the girl), for her family, for you, for your family, for the entire community.”
The judge said the young man should have intervened to protect the girl rather than snap the photo for his friend, who was smiling and giving the thumbs-up sign while he penetrated the girl from behind.
“The act depicted in that photo that you took is vile,” Lenehan said. “It is degrading. It is dehumanizing.
“There no measures, no sanctions, no conditions that this court could impose that could come close to restoring the (girl’s) dignity, nothing that I can do to compensate for her tragic loss of life.”
The man chose not to address the court before he was sentenced. Defence lawyer Ian Hutchison, in his submission, said his client has battled mental health issues since the incident and is remorseful for his actions.
“I do accept that (the accused) is genuinely remorseful for what he did,” the judge said.
“I’m also convinced that he is quite sickened by the realization that his decision eventually led (the girl) to fall into a deep, dark hole of despair from which she could not extricate herself.
“His actions led to a series of events that eventually drained her of her very essence.”
Before the sentence was delivered, the girl’s parents gave victim impact statements saying she was destroyed after the sexually explicit picture was taken and distributed.
“I can honestly say I lost my child that night,” the girl’s mother told the court. “That photo ruined her life. She was never the same again. We saw glimpses of (her) from time to time, but the impact and trauma that followed for her was enormous.
“The following 17 months were a struggle. (She) struggled to live.”
Her father said his daughter sank into a depression.
“I had to watch my promising, intelligent, full-of-life child turn into an empty ghost — her dreams turn to ashes, her laughter turn to anger and cries,” he said through tears.“This is not the way this had to end.”
The judge ordered the offender to write a letter of apology to be given to the girl’s parents by his sentence supervisor.
Otherwise, he is to have no contact with them or the friend depicted in the photo, a 19-year-old Eastern Passage man scheduled to stand trial later this month on two charges of distributing child pornography.
“There is no sentence that would be good enough or strong enough to ever reflect what this did to my daughter,” the father said. “There just won’t be.
The father said he wished the young man would have apologized to them in court rather than be commanded to do it in writing.
“He should have said it right there. It would have meant a lot to us.”
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS
Mother:
"I sat in the courtroom on Sept. 22 and heard the words that the accused wished to change his plea to guilty. Then came the description of the photo that was circulated and what was occurring in that photo. Suddenly before my eyes flashed my daughter as a baby, as a little girl and finally the image of my daughter one evening curled in a ball on my kitchen floor in a fetal position, rocking, crying and saying her life is ruined.
Then out came all the events that she could recall of that evening back on Nov. 12, 2011. I recall vividly holding the door frame to my kitchen to steady myself as I could not believe what I was hearing.
I can honestly say I lost my child that night. That photo ruined her life. She was never the same again. We saw glimpses of (her) from time to time, but the impact and trauma that followed for her was enormous. So too was the impact emotionally for me and for her family. The following 17 months were a struggle. (She) struggled to live.
You may say how can a photo contribute to the death? Often, I hear, “Well, she must have had other major issues before this photo was taken and circulated.” No, she never had mental health issues before this happened to her. She was looking forward to her years in high school because she loved to learn and was a straight A student. She wrote about her excitement in her first month of high school. If (she) was the definition of a “troubled teen,” then every teen I ever met is a troubled teen.
(She) was at an age where she was feeling out who she was going to be in this life. She was building the foundation of who she was to become. That foundation and exploration was taken from her. She started to crumble. It was like a wrecking ball hit her, leaving pieces of bricks and mortar in its place. I know deep in my heart (she) had so much to contribute to this world and now that will never happen.
I can’t help but hear the words of her little sister after (she) died. “Mommy, why would someone want to hurt (her).” How do I explain this to her sisters? She says, “Mommy, don’t the people that hurt her know that we love her?” I asked myself the very same questions why?
When a family member suffers a trauma, so too does the entire family. My relationship with (her) also changed as she began to self-medicate, steal money and act rebellious. She acted completely different and her soft sensitive demeanour began to (submerge) into a protective shell. She became a troubled teen. I was unable to work and found my time and energy going into trying to find help for (her). Assessment after assessment determined I was not able to work.
Some may think I want the people involved and the guilty party to go to jail and be punished severely. Truth is, I don’t want that for him at all. I don’t feel jail time would serve anyone in this situation. My wish is that the accused actually felt remorse, that the accused does see the wrongdoing in this situation, not because he was caught and held accountable but because he actually FELT accountable.
I wish that he make a life for himself where other females he encountered are treated with respect and dignity. That he somehow learns to value females and that he does so in memory of my daughter. To me, that is the only way to move forward in a healing manner. What I do know is that I have to forgive him. I know this to be true".
Father:
"It would be impossible for me to sum up the impact this crime has had on my life and the life of my daughter. My life has been forever changed and her life ended. Every day, I wake up with the realization that she’s gone. I will never hear her voice again. She will never call me, spend the day with me or watch a movie that we both looked forward to seeing together. I won’t see her graduate from university. (She) was my only child. I will never walk with my daughter down an aisle at her wedding. I will never be a grandfather and enjoy the laughter of a grandchild.
I had to watch my promising intelligent, full-of-life child turn into an empty ghost, her dreams turn to ashes, her laughter turn to anger and cries. This is not the way it had to end.
I fight every day not to turn into a dark, empty shell. I’m not able to work. The hobbies I had that were important to me are all long forgotten and sit on shelves in the basement. I suffer from depression and anxiety. I often fear being alone.
It’s hard knowing that (my daughter), being the person she was, would have forgiven you if you’d only said you were sorry".
After the judge gave the now-20-year-old a conditional discharge in the case, the hashtag soon began to trend across the country. It was a protest against what many see as further silencing the victim and her memory.
Some Twitter users used the victim's name along with the #youknowhername tag.
To all those media entities, your lack of courage in not publishing Rehateh parson's name is despicably cowardly. You are all guilty of being part of the victimization of a dead child. Shame on YOU!
If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity. -Albert Einstein.
