Halifax verdict sparks outrage

(Updated) There’s outrage across the country tonight at the sentence handed down to a young man involved in a tragic case that led to a Halifax teenager taking her own life.

We can’t identify her or him because of a publication ban that is in place as this was a case of child pornography. The teen who committed suicide did so after a picture of her being sexually assaulted while intoxicated at a party was being spread around her school and she wanted it to stop. But today the judge gave the first of two young men charged in this case a conditional discharge. That means no jail time. He does have to give a DNA sample to the National Data Bank. But beyond that, he’s free. Earlier tonight, we spoke to freelance reporter Hilary Beaumont who was inside the court room during today’s sentencing.

We return to the tragic story of a teenage girl who took her own life after a picture of her being sexually assaulted was passed around her school. No charges have ever been laid in the assault but because someone took a picture of the assault in progress, child pornography charges were laid.

Thursday, the young man who took the picture was sentenced by a judge. But he wasn’t given any jail time. We’re going back to a conservation we had earlier with freelance reporter Hilary Beaumont to get more on the reaction from her parents, the Halifax community and social media.