A recent stabbing may have a connection to the case of Rehtaeh Parsons, a Nova Scotia teen who was allegedly raped by four boys and bullied before she committed suicide, according to the Chronicle Herald.
An RCMP report states that in March, three boys and another group of about six got into a “heated” verbal back-and-forth. The three got onto a bus travelling from Dartmouth, N.S. to Eastern Passage and were followed by the other group in a car. After the boys got off the bus, the group allegedly sprayed them with mace, and one of the three was stabbed and taken to hospital with a non life-threatening injury. The suspects left the scene.
The Chronicle Herald reports the boys in the car included some of those accused of raping Parsons in 2011, one of which was said to have appeared in a photo of the alleged rape. The boy who was stabbed was one of Parsons' best friends and she “was very upset by what transpired that night,” according to Rehtaeh’s mother’s partner, Jason Barnes.
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Rehtaeh Parsons: A Life In Photos
The police made no arrests, and didn’t know for sure whether the two groups knew each other.
Rehtaeh’s case grabbed headlines after the 17-year-old committed suicide and her family took her off life support in early April. Her mother, Leah Parsons, penned a heartbreaking Facebook post soon after telling her daughter's story.
She also said police had investigated, but wouldn’t charge any of the accused due what they said was a lack of evidence. Rehtaeh’s father, Glen Canning, published a blog that went viral that recalled both fond memories of his daughter and deep sorrow at her passing.
Online hactivist group Anonymous threatened to release the names of the accused in an effort to get police to reopen the case. The group later said it knew of “several public statements” of "confession" from one of the accused boys.
The RCMP reopened the case on Friday, and it will be independently reviewed by the Nova Scotia government.