A Stoney family is mourning the death of Kori Wesley who was brutally murdered on Aug. 7.
According to Lori Wesley, the victim’s mother, her son was viciously stabbed around 20 times.
Losing a loved one, especially a child, is hard enough without the cause being so senseless and terrifying.
While the family will need time to grieve and come to terms with the tragedy, the Stoney people will have their own soul searching to do. Murders can rip at the fabric of a community. Not only has this crime devastated the Wesley family and those who considered Kori a friend, it will also have ripple effects to the the rest of the community and the families of the two people charged – one only 16 years old – with Kori’s murder.
Compounding the matter is the fact Kori’s family is dealing with hurtful, and they say untrue, rumours about Kori. Those rumours suggest Kori was involved in criminal activity.
Whether those rumours had anything to do with Kori’s death are not known and it will likely come out in court if they did. We certainly hope not, but if so, it would not be the first time that rumours and innuendo have contributed to someone’s death.
Even before social media made communication nearly instantaneous, there have been many cases of rumours and bullying being attributed to suicides, assaults and other forms of vigilante justice.
These cases have a tendency to erode the trust within a community and cause division instead of building the bonds and relationships that are essential in creating a safe place for our families.
They also demonstrate how misinformation, cruelty and lies can destroy lives.
Names like BC’s Amanda Todd, the teen who took her own life after being harassed and blackmailed online by an adult, stand out in many people’s minds of what can happen.
If the rumours are not what contributed to Kori’s death, their existence will bring added pain to his family and to the community.
If they did contribute to his death then the tragedy will be twofold, having unnecessarily robbed a young man of his life and potentially destroyed the lives of two others for no reason.
What the Stoney people need now is healing and to allow the justice system to run its course.
With one of their own dead and two more facing charges for his murder, this will not be an easy time.
