Teenager’s photos went viral, a gardai investigation is now underway because she’s a minor

Aug 22, 2013 14:23 GMT  ·  By

This past Sunday, Eminem performed at Slane Castle in Ireland to 80,000 fans. By Monday, the Internet had literally exploded because of the story of a teenager known as #SlaneGirl. She is now in hospital because of what is being described as one of the worst cases of cyber-bullying ever.

At the concert, the girl was photographed and videotaped performing lewd acts on two different men, who appeared to be of the same age as her.

The material was uploaded to Twitter, Facebook, tumblr and YouTube, going viral in the blink of an eye, both in the US and worldwide.

A while later, the girl’s identity and real age were also made public: as it turns out, she’s only 17, which makes her of age baclk home in Ireland, but a minor in the US.

The Independent.ie reports that the girl is now in hospital and that a gardai investigation is underway. Gardai is Ireland’s National Police Service.

The same report notes that, right before being hospitalized, the girl had just been released after filing a complaint that she’d been abused at an outdoor event, which was probably the same Eminem concert.

She then found out that her photos were plastered all over the Internet and suffered a severe shock.

“The secondary school student and her family have been left devastated after the images appeared on social networking sites. Sources said she was so distraught she had to be sedated in hospital yesterday afternoon,” the publication writes.

“The primary concern for gardai at this time is for this vulnerable teenager and her state of mind. Gardai have been dealing with her and her family. This is a very sensitive case,” a source reveals.

“The teenager has not been medically fit enough to make a formal statement yet, but when that happens this could turn into a sexual assault investigation,” adds the same insider.

As you can imagine, the girl’s case has reopened the debate on cyber-bullying and double standards in modern society.

It’s almost a given that few of the media outlets and blogs that ran her picture would have chosen not to do so if they’d known her real age.

Also a given is that no one would have shamed her publicly if she was a man, voices are saying. Proof of that is in the fact that neither of the guys pictured with her was called any names. If anything, they were hailed as “heroes” of some sorts.