Thread by @JusticeForGaia

THREAD For #IWD21 please take 5 mins to read & share Gaia's story. Gaia loved #InternationalWomensDay & she should be here celebrating it with us. Instead our bright, brave and beautiful star 🌠 has become part of it. 🌹 #JusticeForGaia #InternationalWomensDay #RapeJusticeNow

We are a family fighting for answers about what happened to our girl who went missing on 7 November 2017 when she was 19 yrs old. 🌹 Eleven days later, her body was found. The coroner found she’d died of hypothermia. We call it a death by indifference...
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Gaia was bright, brave, kind, creative and fiercely loyal to those she loved. The challenges she faced as a young woman living with #epilepsy & as a #survivor of sexual violence inspired her to pursue a career in health and social care. 💞 She wanted to dedicate her life to...

others & help transform a healthcare system she felt forgotten and neglected by. After reporting that she had been raped Gaia’s #epilepsy deteriorated & she developed severe #PTSD. Our local Rape Crisis centre could only offer short-term counselling...

#Dorset Police dropped her case against this known sex offender. She told us had he threatened to kill her & us if she spoke out. Months later he was imprisoned for another child sex offense but she lived in fear of his release... 😟

In Feb 2017 after learning he was up for early release, Gaia broke down & was hospitalised under the #mentalhealth act. She should have been safe in hospital 🏥 but instead she was subjected to further harassment there. No safeguarding referral was made for her...

The whole episode was kept quiet by the healthcare trust. Soon she was discharged, again with no long-term support. On the day she disappeared Gaia had two appointments: one with her GP to ask for #mentalhealth support & another with #Dorset Police to report a further...

incident of sexual harassment online. She was in a state of extreme distress & confusion when she went missing. We reported immediately & called on our local community for help. ☎️ Gaia’s story made national headlines. 📰
Hundreds joined the search...
news.sky.com/story/family-o…

Thousands more took action in an enormous grassroots effort to find her. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑💗🧑‍🤝‍🧑 We searched for eleven days, during which time we lost what little faith we ever had in the #police. It was only thanks to those volunteers that her body was finally found... theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/f…

From this day onwards our lives would never be the same. We call it the Before and the After. 🥀 There is a hole in all our hearts where Gaia used to be & no words to describe our grief at losing our darling girl in such an unspeakable & preventable way... 💔

Though postponed due to Covid19 we have won the right to a full inquest under Article 2 (Right to Life) of the European Convention of Human Rights, with a jury to examine the role of Dorset Police & healthcare services in Gaia’s death...

We are very lucky to have an amazing legal team of formidable women led by @caoilfhionnanna along with @sophymiles1 @HWistrich & Sarah Kellas & to have been supported by some amazing groups deserving of your support this #IWD like @centreWJ @SistersUncut & @RapeCrisisEandW

We want #JusticeForGaia & for all #survivors. We want to make sure your family never has to stand where we stand today, fighting for justice for someone who’s been taken from you and who can never be replaced. 🕯️

That’s why we produced #GaiasGuide: a community organising guide to help keep #MISSING people safe. justiceforgaia.com/gaias-guide/

And that's why nearly four years on we're still fighting for #JusticeForGaia and change for others.

The inquest into Gaia’s death is due to begin on 25 April 2022 & is expected to last at least ten weeks. What keeps us going & improves our chance of achieving change for other #survivors is your support so please check out these simple ways to support 🙏justiceforgaia.com/help/

The world is a darker place without Gaia but she is still a light in all our lives. We honour her memory by fighting for her rights and for the better world that she believed in. ♀️ END.

#JusticeForGaia #InternationalWomensDay #gaiapope #IWD2021 #IWD #rapejusticenow #gaiapope