RCMP Praise Two Witnesses Who Have Stepped Forward

By 250 News

Vancouver, B.C.- Ridge Meadows RCMP are praising two witnesses who’ve come forward, to provide information on what they saw of the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl at a Pitt Meadows rave the night of Sept 10.

“We respect the courage that it took for those witnesses to come forward under extreme peer pressure, and I want to commend the leadership they showed as young adults. But what’s really important now is that others need to follow their example,” said Sergeant Peter Thiessen, media relations officer for the Lower Mainland District Regional Police Service.

Police now have reason to believe that there may have been more witnesses and are strongly urging anyone who witnessed the sexual assault, and who has not already spoken to a police officer, to come forward and provide information on what they observed.

During the first press conference on September 16, the police, the victim and her family made a strong plea to stop the devastating and rapid spread of photos of the assault. The distribution of those photos was, and still is, a criminal act of distributing child pornography - something which was not understood by many young people at the time.

Investigators are pleased that for the most part, the warning is being heeded.

“The photos are coming down,” said Sgt. Thiessen. “That’s very important both to investigators and to the victim and her family, and we’re pleased that youths took this message to heart. What happened to this girl was a horrible violation, and she deserves the chance to heal without being re-victimized by the sharing or viewing of these photos.”

“Furthermore, police recognize that debate on the events of that night is still occurring online among youths. We can’t stop that debate - there’s no law against it - but we do urge the youths and community to allow us to do our jobs, as we follow the information and evidence to wherever it leads us,” he said.

Police also wish to clarify some misinformation. It has been reported the victim was raped by 5-7 males. The only number the police publicly commented on was the number of witnesses, thought at that time to be between 5-7 persons. 

“At the onset of this investigation police had information which indicated that several males were involved,” explained Sgt. Thiessen. “At this point we are still trying to determine how many males may have been involved in a sexual assault.”

Police are still interviewing witnesses and gathering information. The public will be notified immediately if there are any further arrests.

 The victim’s mother and father wish to make this statement to the public .....

Statement from the Family:

This incident has been devastating to our family and close friends. There are no words that would express the effect and hardship this has placed upon us now and for the future.

In regard to the spread of pictures on social media, this act continues to re-victimize our daughter every day. She has no privacy and the wound is continually being opened up.

The internet itself is neither good nor bad. And there’s no history or playbook on how to handle something like this. But we need to know that some good can come out of this.

We are also encouraged by the many messages of support that have been posted online.

People have been so outraged and deeply affected by what happened to our daughter. For us, those supportive comments are giving us an extra bit of strength every day. They are holding us together right now. And those comments prove there are a lot of compassionate human beings out there and we thank and love all of them for showing us that.

Our daughter is a very beautiful and brave individual. She is strong. She has returned to school, and is trying to get some normalcy back in her life. There are a lot of kids out there supporting her, and that's also making a big difference.

And we're extremely thankful for the school and the expert support they have shown for our daughter it is reassuring to us that she is safe in that environment.

Many have indicated to us that they wish to donate to a trust or charity on behalf of our daughter. We're very touched by this thoughtfulness but wish to emphasize we do NOT in any way want to benefit financially from this tragedy. When we get the opportunity we will look into a charity to donate to on her behalf.

At this time we will not be making any further comments to the media. We ask to be left alone, and given privacy to heal. Please direct any further questions to the police.

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