Following reports of a horrific sexual assault by as many as 15 men, police were unable to pursue charges because the victim had little information about the identities of the perpetrators. In the months following the alleged assault, video surfaced on social media and led to the identification and arrest of seven males involved in the incident. The police have described the video as “sickening to watch.”
This is a good reminder to have your clients’ friends and family keep a close eye on the social media pages of the perpetrators in your sexual assault cases and posts where they may be tagged. Although it seems unfathomable that people would want to share such images or implicate themselves in a crime, it happens more often than you would think possible. As here, the discovery of powerful video evidence can lead to arrests or be used as strong evidence in your sexual assault cases. Such posts or the comments thereto can also provide avenues for tracking down witnesses and other potential victims of the perpetrators.
