She says she knew as soon as the photo was taken that it was going to change everything.
What a teenager from Newfoundland and Labrador didn’t know was that she was facing an ordeal that would span nearly three years and end in disappointment. The 15-year-old says it has left her with a feeling of being let down by the very system that she thought would lead to justice being served.
A charge of possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation material was laid against a male youth, but it was ultimately dismissed because the RCMP made a mistake in the gathering of evidence.
“It just hurts me, knowing that this could have went through, and that I could have got the justice I wanted,” the girl told CBC News.
CBC isn’t naming the girl because her identity is protected by a publication ban due to her age.
She was 12 when it happened, hanging out at a summer sleepover when another girl took a topless photo of her without getting consent.
The girl who took the photo shared it with a preteen boy and a few weeks into Grade 8, he made a threat, according to the teen who spoke to CBC.
“He said that if I didn’t perform oral sex, he was going to send it around,” recalled the girl who had her photo taken.
She says the boy went on to share the photo at least three separate times — he texted it to friends, and shared it in a group on Snapchat and on TikTok.
The girl says she was embarrassed and ashamed, and it seemed like everyone knew.
“It’s gone through two or three schools, like it’s pretty much everywhere in this area,” she said.
Each time the photo resurfaced, the girl and her mother reported it to the RCMP, and explained the impact it was having.
“It took a really big toll on me mentally,” said the girl. “I thought no one liked me. I thought it was my fault for a long time.”
After each of the first two instances of the photo being shared, no charges were laid. The mom and daughter told CBC News that police instead assured the girl and her mother that the perpetrator had been spoken to and had deleted the photo.
But, the photo was not deleted, they said.
Instead, near the end of her Grade 9 year, it surfaced online again, and things came to a head at the girl’s school when a school official became aware of it, and called the police.
In June 2025, police charged a male youth with possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation material.
“I thought I was going to have some freedom. I was going to be free. It wasn’t going to resurface again,” the girl said. “I was going be able to live my teenage years happy and surrounded by people I love and do the things I love most, without this picture just haunting me.”
Months passed after the boy was charged, and the mother and daughter say they received no updates.
Finally, they found out in November 2025 that the case was set over to May 2026, and would proceed at that time.
But on April 16, they got word that the Crown attorney wanted to meet with them — and it wasn’t good news.
“He said, ‘I’m really sorry, that I hate to have to tell you this, but the child’s lawyer put in for a Charter of Rights application, and it was accepted.'”
The Crown said the case wouldn’t proceed, the charge would be dismissed by a judge, because there was no hope of a conviction.
The charge was dismissed because key evidence gathered by police was not admissible, due to an error in how it was obtained. That error involved how the male youth had been informed of his legal rights.
“They were supposed to read a certain set of rights under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. They didn’t read them. So they read the adult rights,” recounts the girl’s mother.
Crown attorney Noah Jacobs confirmed the information in an email to CBC. He said in this case, Section 146 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act — which deals with the admissibility of statements given by a minor — wasn’t complied with, “resulting in certain evidence being inadmissible at trial.”
“Based on this, the Crown determined there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction,” he wrote.
The RCMP declined to do an interview with CBC News, nor would police provide additional details about the investigation or the reasons for the youth’s application under the Charter.
The RCMP Strategic Communications and Media Relations Unit in N.L. sent a statement by email saying the police force acknowledges “that this outcome may be distressing and frustrating for the victim and members of the community.”
“While this is not the result we aim to achieve, it is important to recognize that all investigations are subject to judicial review, and we respect the court’s decision in this matter.”
A women’s group in this province says it is regularly hearing from women and survivors who feel they have been let down by different parts of the justice system.
“When a case involving non-consensual distribution of intimate images can’t proceed because of an investigative or procedural error, the impact is significant,” said Courtney Clarke, executive director of the St. John’s Status of Women Council.
“The harm to the victim remains, and that opportunity for accountability is lost.”
Clarke said while Charter rights must always be upheld, the impact of procedural errors extends beyond a single case like this one, and undermines public confidence in the justice system.
“Survivors are often taking very significant personal risks to come forward and, when a case collapses because of mistakes within the system, it can leave them feeling unheard, unsupported and without that sense of closure that they deserve,” said Clarke.
Clarke says a continued investment in training is needed, whether it’s for police, prosecutors or others in the justice system, particularly around gender-based violence and digital forms of violence.
To prevent these cases from being thrown out, “We need the system to both protect fundamental legal rights and minimize avoidable errors,” Clarke said.
The mother of the girl in this case agrees.
“The police need to do better,” she said. “My daughter, she has went through so much in the last two years, and they have failed her.”
CBC asked a follow-up question to the RCMP about whether officers in the central region or across N.L. have received any additional training, directives, or reminders with regard to compliance with the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The RCMP again responded via email to say: “We are reviewing this file to better understand the circumstances that contributed to the court
