Halifax Teen charged with making death threats against Rehtaeh Parsons’ father

One of two teens charged in the Rehtaeh Parsons child pornography case is now accused of threatening to kill the girl’s father, Glen Canning.

Police said Saturday that a 19-year-old Eastern Passage, N.S., man is facing charges of uttering death threats and criminal harassment after allegedly making threats online.

The charges stem from threats allegedly made in the comments section of a YouTube video posted by Rehtaeh’s father, Glen Canning, last August. Other threats were allegedly made on a WordPress site, a popular blog publishing platform.

One remark said the commenter knows Canning’s face, his car and where he lives and that he “might be going to visit your daughter (sic).”

Rehtaeh Parsons died in April 2013 after a suicide attempt. Her family alleges she was sexually assaulted and that a photo of the assault was distributed among her peers, leading to months of harassment.

Canning said in an interview on Saturday afternoon that he’s relieved someone has been charged for the alleged death threats, but that the case is unfortunate.

“When you put it in context of who’s making these comments, I just kind of shake my head,” he said. “Honestly. Holy God. Someone so young making that kind of choice in their life, he’s just never going to be able to get past it.”

The identity of the teen charged in the Rehtaeh Parsons case is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because he was under 18 at the time of the alleged offence.

The 19-year-old will appear in Dartmouth provincial court on May 20th.

Agencies/Canadajournal