“I have been suicidal and I have cut myself. The eating disorder was a way of killing myself slowly, which I wanted to do because of how disgusted I felt because of what was done to me,” she said. “I felt sick in my own body after what happened to me, and I wanted to change my body so they would never look at me the same way again.”“I have had to take prescription drugs to help me cope. I have had to take over 1,000 tablets over the last two years, and I have had 156 hours of counselling.
She was contacted by one of the accused, who was in the area, and the girl and her friend met three boys in a clearing in a forest near her home. The trial heard and the older accused had an on-off relationship with him. The third boy remained with the girl’s friend during the incident. Mark Nicholas, defence barrister for the older accused, described what had occurred as a “grim business” and said his client accepted the verdict. He said his client had just turned 17 at the time and the incident happened during a period of great tumult and loss in his family.