In November of 2011, a mother in Nova Scotia comes home to work to find her daughter on the kitchen floor, rocking and sobbing. Leah stood in the kitchen doorway listening to her teenage daughter Rehtaeh disclose the events of a sexual assault, the events as she could remember them.

Rehtaeh could vaguely remember the digital shutter click of a cell phone at some point that night, but she didn’t find out until earlier that day, at school, that a photo was taken by one of the boys and it was being texted and forwarded through the school.

The photo was of one of the boys engaged in a sexual act with Rehtaeh as Rehtaeh was leaning out an open window throwing up. Rehtaeh was nude from the waist down and the boy in the picture flashing a thumbs up to the camera.

This assault and photograph sparked a chain of events that changed the family forever.

Music by Blue Dot Sessions 

In November of 2011, a mother in Nova Scotia comes home to work to find her daughter on the kitchen floor, rocking and sobbing. Leah stood in the kitchen doorway listening to her teenage daughter Rehtaeh disclose the events of a sexual assault, the events as she could remember them. Rehtaeh could vaguely remember the digital shutter click of a cell phone at some point that night, but she didn’t find out until earlier that day, at school, that a photo was taken by one of the boys and it was being texted and forwarded through the school. The photo was of one of the boys engaged in a sexual act with Rehtaeh as Rehtaeh was leaning out an open window throwing up. Rehtaeh was nude from the waist down and the boy in the picture flashing a thumbs up to the camera. This assault and photograph sparked a chain of events that changed the family forever. Music by Blue Dot Sessions

When a crime ends in a conviction, the victims or their families are often allowed to give a statement to the court about the impact of the crime on their lives. But when these life altering events go unsolved, do not end in a conviction, or aren’t crimes at all, the victims and their families do not have this opportunity. The stories on this podcast are their Impact Statements.

Impact Statement

In November of 2011, a mother in Nova Scotia comes home to work to find her daughter on the kitchen floor, rocking and sobbing. Leah stood in the kitchen doorway listening to her teenage daughter Rehtaeh disclose the events of a sexual assault, the...

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