Gang-Raped Teen Writes Emotional Warning Letter To Students Before Suicide
A teenage girl who killed herself after being gang-raped and suffering years of bullying wrote a powerful letter to her fellow students before she died.
The letter, which was written by Cassidy Trevan with help from her boyfriend Luke, was found on her laptop.
It was published by 9 News with the permission of her mom, Linda.
Cassidy wrote,
My name is Cassidy Trevan, and I was raped. If anyone every tries this on you trust me it's worth fighting! Fight! If you don't you'll regret it for the rest of your life like I do. You can do it. Be careful. Be warned. Be safe.
The letter is published in full below.
Cassidy, of Melbourne, Australia, was just 15 when she committed suicide in December 2015.
She had suffered years of bullying from a group of girls — which came to a head in February 2014 when they led her to a house where two older teenagers raped her.
Linda Trevan told 9 News the rape caused "nightmares, insomnia, separation anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD and subsequent worsening mental illness."
She added,
They were older boys that Cass didn't know. Two girls who sat and waited. Two boys who shared her and timed each other. One boy stood guarding the front door. Cass was scared to make a formal statement for fear of retaliation from the gang, and she also was worried reliving it would push her over the edge.
Neither of the rapists were charged as Cassidy was too frightened to report the incident to police.
Cassidy's open letter:
WARNING TO ALL STUDENTS
I was a student at (school name omitted) and I was raped by some of the students who still attend that school. I know this already probably sounds like attention-seeking but it's honestly far from it. I have many reasons for doing this which I'll also explain.
My aim is to warn other people (students mostly but also parents) about what happened because I'm worried if they could do it to me they could do it to other kids like me, or at least try to.
You actually have the power to stop this from happening. Remember the people who did this to me were school students at (omitted), it's hard to believe, I know. But it's true.
I'm not doing this for revenge to those students that raped me, set up the rape, bullied me about the rape, teased me about the rape or anything like that. I'm also not doing this for attention seeking like I mentioned earlier, I want to make that clear.
I'm doing this because over 1500 students years seven to 12 are currently enrolled at the school and they need to be warned. I feel because of what happened to me, and because the staff at the school did nothing to help me (which I'll talk a bit more about later).
It's now my duty to warn you all and to make you aware of what happened. (Not just what you may have heard around school but what actually happened.)
But I'm also doing this for myself. I want to finally after one and a half years be left alone. It's surprising just how many students at (omitted) have heard stories of me and weirdly enough still get told stories of me to this day.
I still continue to get students I've never met contacting me Facebook calling me a slut. I've moved schools, I've moved house and still I'm being contacted and bullied. I can't stop people from spreading rumors, but at least I could try and spread what really happened seeing as it's still being talked about anyway.
But as I said this honestly is more so for students who are unaware of this and are in danger of those students.
My name is Cassidy Trevan, and I was raped.
If anyone every tries this on you trust me it's worth fighting! Fight! If you don't you'll regret it for the rest of your life like I do. You can do it.
Be careful. Be warned. Be safe.
Citations: 9 News
