London:
A 17-year-old girl from Canada killed herself after four boys raped her and spread a photograph of the assault, causing classmates to cyber-bully her, her mother has said.
The girl from Nova Scotia hanged herself in her family's bathroom after months of torment, the Daily Mail reported.
No charges were ever brought against her alleged attackers following the assault in 2011. An investigation was launched but authorities concluded they did not have enough evidence.
Her mother described how her daughter was changed by the alleged assault in their hometown of Cole Harbour.
"She went with a friend to another's home. In that home, she was raped by four young boys. One of those boys took a photo of her being raped and decided it would be fun to distribute the photo to everyone in the school and community, where it quickly went viral," her mother wrote on a social network.
The alleged attack left the girl an outcast at her school, where her alleged rapists were also students. Friends, students and strangers taunted her, her mother said.
"People texted her all the time, saying 'Will you have sex with me?'," she said. "Girls texting, saying 'You're such a slut'. She was never left alone. She had to leave the community. Her friends turned against her. People harassed her... It just never stopped," the daily quoted her mother as saying.
Her parents moved to Halifax to help her escape the bullies.
She said her daughter also started therapy, which appeared to be helping. Yet she would become angry quickly, and the suicide was probably the result of a mood swing, the mother said.
"She acted on an impulse, but I truly, in my heart of heart, do not feel she meant to kill herself," her mother said.
Canadian police launched an investigation, which took a year, but concluded there was insufficient evidence to bring up charges.