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Three teenage boys are under arrest, facing possible charges for what police say was the sexual assault of a 15-year-old Saratoga High School student. Attorney Robert Allard says the girl took her life after learning that her attackers took photos during the assault, and then published them online and showed them around school. In the days following the attack, the girl wrote on her Facebook page, “The whole school knows…. My life is ruined.”
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“Based on what we know, she was unconscious, there were multiple boys in the room with her,” Allard said. “They did unimaginable things to her while she was unconscious.”
NBC Bay Area reports that the girl’s parents, who didn’t find out about the attack until after their daughter’s death, have released her name in the hope that the story will inspire new legislation. They also want the boys to be tried as adults.
On Sept. 10, 2012, eight days after the alleged assault, the girl, Audrie Pott, committed suicide. All three boys are 16 years old and currently being held in juvenile detention until a hearing next week.
“What these boys did is beyond unconscionable,” Allard said. “They should be held to the highest standard of the law to make sure this never ever happens again.”
"Audrie's Law would address some of the things that happened here," Allard told the San Jose Mercury News. "There are two common elements here that are being repeated across the country -- sexual assault by an adolescent and the cyber-bullying that follows."
This case comes just days after news of a Canadian teenager taking her life after an alleged gang-rape and the bullying that followed. Last month, another rape case that included assault photos being spread on social media ended when two Steubenville football players were found delinquent -- the juvenile version of guilty -- on rape charges.
