Family devastated after Cole Harbour teen takes her life

The family of a 17-year-old Cole Harbour girl is trying to cope with the death of their daughter.

Rehtaeh Parsons took her own life last weekend, after spending a year and a half trying to recover from being the victim of an alleged rape and bullying.

“We’re not really coping…just going through the motions,” said Leah Parsons, Rehtaeh’s mother. “Like any tragedy you just feel like you’re in somebody else’s life…you’re looking at somebody else’s tragedy.”

Parsons said her daughter was starting to overcome her sadness and anger. She had a boyfriend, quit smoking pot and had started looking for a job.

Rehtaeh’s life was changed when she 15 and was allegedly raped by four boys at a home in November 2011. A photo was taken during the act, and spread around throughout the community. Rehtaeh’s mother said no one believed her, friends stopped calling, and the bullying started.

Parsons says the justice system failed her daughter.

“I was told that in the photo she’s not clearly seen as being under 15 because of her age. If she was eight years old, they could clearly see it’s child pornography. But because she was 15-years-old, the boys could say ‘we didn’t know she was underage,’ and that could be thrown out in court. It came down to he-said-she-said. They didn’t even interview the boys until 10 months after the incident.”

To help her daughter cope, Rehtaeh was moved from Cole Harbour High School to Dartmouth High. A week later, she moved to Halifax with her father and went to Citadel High. She eventually moved back to Dartmouth and finished at Prince Andrew.

Parsons says she never thought Rehtaeh would take her own life, but the teen became upset on Friday, locked herself in the bathroom and hanged herself.

“When I found her she was dead, but you have to call 9-1-1… you have to try, so they tried. They tried to keep her heart going and bring her back, but the brain damage was too severe”

She says no matter how hurt her daughter was, she never stopped caring for others.

“A guy said yesterday that there was a girl crying in the hallway, and Rehtaeh didn’t really know her, but she went to see if she was okay… she didn’t like other people suffering…she tried to help even though she was in her own turmoil.”

Rehtaeh’s heart was to be donated Tuesday. Funeral arrangements will take place later this week.

Meanwhile, RCMP Cpl. Scott MacRae says unfortunately there are a lot of grey areas in some investigations and police agencies have to maintain privacy while working with youth. He says some cases take a long time and are met with challenges, but are looked at and taken seriously.