From the first moment I heard about Nadia Kajouji, I felt a connection with the then-18-year-old Brampton, Ont., native.
It was 2008 and Kajouji had disappeared from her Carleton University dorm room one snowy February night. As the weeks passed, details about Kajouji’s mental state and her suicidal online postings surfaced. A month later, her body was found on the banks of the canal — it appeared she had tried to drown herself.
I connected with Kajouji because I too went to Carleton University and suffered major depression while there. I too had suicidal thoughts. The difference between the two of us was I got out alive (I wrote about my experiences in the Ottawa Citizen before Kajouji’s body was found).
After her death, conversations Kajouji had online became public. Apparently she thought she was chatting with a female in the United States who was also suicidal. Instead, this was a grown man. And instead of being suicidal himself, he wanted Kajouji to kill herself online — while he watched. (Oh and just to add to the horror, the man is a nurse!)
Her family has wanted some sort of retribution for what this man did. But the law, like many things, has not caught up to the internet quite yet in cases like this. And since Kajouji was Canadian, and this man was American, it was hard for authorities to figure out in what jurisdiction he would be charged, or with what he could be charged with.
Then news came Friday authorities did figure it out, and he will be charged.
William Melchert-Dinkel has been charged with two counts of aiding suicide, one for Kajouji and one for a man in Britain who also killed himself at Melchert-Dinkel’s urging. According to the Star article, the case is “believed to be the first time in North America that assistant suicide laws have been applied for such cases — and it could lead the way for charges in similar cases in the future.
If convicted, Melchert-Dinkel could face up to 30 years in prison and $60,000 in fines.
I am thrilled that this man is finally seeing legal action for what he did to Kajouji. As someone who has been in that mental state, I cannot imagine someone taking advantage of me and my mind like that. How inhumane do you have to be to prey for someone when they are at their lowest low?
However, I don’t believe this is the only kind of case where the law needs to be applied.
Online bullying for teens has increased tenfold from when I was in high school. There are cases in the United States where the bullying got so bad, kids have killed themselves over it. Studies have shown that verbal bullying is oftentimes worse than physical bullying — emotional scars don’t heal as well.
By Minnesota prosecutors filing charges against Melchert-Dinkel, this could easily pave the way for other jurisdictions to be able to file charges for online bullying or harassment. The internet should not be a hate free for all — the law should apply online just as it does off.
As for Kajouji’s family? The Star reached her father who said he didn’t think charges would have been laid, but he was realistic about what the charges mean to him:
“It won’t bring Nadia back, but it is a relief. I miss her so much, and not a day goes by when I don’t think about it.”
Hopefully, what happened to Nadia Kajouji will never happen to another person online again.
Charges finally laid in Brampton, Ont. teen’s death
From the first moment I heard about Nadia Kajouji, I felt a connection with the then-18-year-old Brampton, Ont., native.
It was 2008 and Kajouji had disappeared from her Carleton University dorm room one snowy February night. As the weeks passed, details about Kajouji’s mental state and her suicidal online postings surfaced. A month later, her body was found on the banks of the canal — it appeared she had tried to drown herself.
I connected with Kajouji because I too went to Carleton University and suffered major depression while there. I too had suicidal thoughts. The difference between the two of us was I got out alive (I wrote about my experiences in the Ottawa Citizen before Kajouji’s body was found).
After her death, conversations Kajouji had online became public. Apparently she thought she was chatting with a female in the United States who was also suicidal. Instead, this was a grown man. And instead of being suicidal himself, he wanted Kajouji to kill herself online — while he watched. (Oh and just to add to the horror, the man is a nurse!)
Her family has wanted some sort of retribution for what this man did. But the law, like many things, has not caught up to the internet quite yet in cases like this. And since Kajouji was Canadian, and this man was American, it was hard for authorities to figure out in what jurisdiction he would be charged, or with what he could be charged with.
Then news came Friday authorities did figure it out, and he will be charged.
William Melchert-Dinkel has been charged with two counts of aiding suicide, one for Kajouji and one for a man in Britain who also killed himself at Melchert-Dinkel’s urging. According to the Star article, the case is “believed to be the first time in North America that assistant suicide laws have been applied for such cases — and it could lead the way for charges in similar cases in the future.
If convicted, Melchert-Dinkel could face up to 30 years in prison and $60,000 in fines.
I am thrilled that this man is finally seeing legal action for what he did to Kajouji. As someone who has been in that mental state, I cannot imagine someone taking advantage of me and my mind like that. How inhumane do you have to be to prey for someone when they are at their lowest low?
However, I don’t believe this is the only kind of case where the law needs to be applied.
Online bullying for teens has increased tenfold from when I was in high school. There are cases in the United States where the bullying got so bad, kids have killed themselves over it. Studies have shown that verbal bullying is oftentimes worse than physical bullying — emotional scars don’t heal as well.
By Minnesota prosecutors filing charges against Melchert-Dinkel, this could easily pave the way for other jurisdictions to be able to file charges for online bullying or harassment. The internet should not be a hate free for all — the law should apply online just as it does off.
As for Kajouji’s family? The Star reached her father who said he didn’t think charges would have been laid, but he was realistic about what the charges mean to him:
Hopefully, what happened to Nadia Kajouji will never happen to another person online again.