APTN National News
WINNIPEG—The first time Rinelle Harper’s father walked into the hospital’s intensive care unit to see his daughter she appeared so badly beaten he didn’t know if she would survive.
An emotional Caesar Harper said he can’t get that image of his 16 year-old daughter out of his mind.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen to her and she…looked so bad, beaten,” said Harper, during a press conference in Winnipeg Thursday. “It’s really hard to forget when I saw her at first, so I am glad she is going to be alive and well.”
Harper said his daughter doesn’t remember the brutal attack that left her on death’s edge, half dressed, soaked and beaten by the Assiniboine River in the early morning hours of Nov. 8.
“She doesn’t remember anything what happened to her,” he said.
Winnipeg police say Rinelle Harper crawled out of the river after she was attacked by two males who then turned on her again and left her for dead in the midnight hours. Harper was found at 7 a.m. by a passerby and is now recovering in hospital.
Two males, Justin Hudson, 20, and a 17 year-old, have been charged with attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon.
Harper has been making a strong recovery, her family said during the press conference. Harper’s mother Julie Harper said her daughter is already talking about going back to school.
“She is getting better each day,” said the mother. “She’s already eager to go back to (school) and she wants to go back this week.”
Rinelle Harper, who is originally from Garden Hill First Nation, was attending Southeast Collegiate in Winnipeg.
Manitoba Keewatinow Okimakanak Grand Chief David Harper said Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s wife Sophie Trudeau phoned Rinelle Harper Wednesday evening. According to Harper, Trudeau said she was “willing to fight on behalf of missing and murdered young women.”
A spokesperson for Justin Trudeau’s office confirmed Sophie Trudeau’s call to Rinelle Harper happened.
“She called, she felt compelled to call, like millions of other Canadians, in light of this tragedy,” said Cameron Ahmed. “She called because she was concerned and wanted to express support.”
Grand Chief Harper compared Rinelle Harper’s survival to her uncle Elijah Harper’s famed eagle feather refusal to support the Meech Lake Accord in 1990.
“A few years ago, Rinelle’s uncle stood before the (legislative assembly) and said no and this is the same thing Rinelle did in the Frigid water when she was attacked, beaten and left for dead,” said the grand chief. “She got back up from the water and she said no, this is not going to happen anymore and she got beaten again and she got back up and she said no more to violence, no more to violent deaths.”
The grand chief said Rinelle would be making a public statement in the coming days.
He also called for meetings between chiefs and Winnipeg’s new mayor.
Hudson didn’t appear in Winnipeg court Thursday because he hasn’t secured a lawyer. He’s expected to appear Friday.
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