The horrified mother of a schoolgirl who killed herself after police refused to press charges of rape has revealed she only discovered her 12-year-old daughter had left a suicide note three years after the tragedy.
Semina Halliwell, from Southport, Merseyside, was allegedly raped by an older boy who attended the same school as her after she cleared her Snapchat to meet him secretly.
Family members of the Year 7 pupil, who has autism, said Merseyside Police officers discouraged them from pressing charges against the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, when he reported the rape.
In a police interview later at her home, three months after the allegations, Semina said ‘I’ve had enough of this’ and went upstairs. Her mother thought she was fed up with the police, but Semina overdosed.
Paramedics rushed to the scene after the family found an empty medicine packet and Semina was taken to hospital. He was placed in a coma, but suffered organ failure and four heart attacks before his death on June 12, 2021.
Rachel’s battle with Merseyside Police has been well documented as she is still awaiting her daughter’s inquest and has never been allowed to return her daughter’s phone.
Speaking to MailOnline three years after her daughter’s death, she said: ‘I’ve reached the point where I’ve had enough. I have been waiting for more than three years. I only recently found out after three years that he would leave a death note on his phone.
Rachel Halliwell said she only found out her son Semina (pictured together) left a suicide note three years after the tragedy.
Semina (pictured), 12, from Southport, Merseyside, was allegedly raped by an older boy who attended the same school as her after she cleared her Snapchat to meet him secretly.
‘The police never told me. I met him after his three year anniversary in June. And I had to find out by reading through (Merseyside Police) disclosures.
‘He refused to give me the phone back. They said that it would be destroyed.’
Rachel found a suicide note in the disclosure document for the inquest on June 25 this year and said: ‘To read the note word for word that he would put on the phone really just broke me.
‘I feel like he’s dead again. I’m broken. I don’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was absolutely terrifying.
‘Now it’s even painful to talk about it, because it’s still quite fresh, that note.’
Rachel first came into contact with Merseyside Police when Semina broke in on her and told her what happened after the self-destructive incident.
Family members previously said officers discouraged Semina from pursuing the charges by saying they would fight him and that the case would not go to court for 18 months to two years.
She also stated how the police did not inform Semina’s school about the rape report, meaning she was forced to stay at home to keep her distance from the alleged perpetrator.
These are the final images of schoolgirl Semina Halliwell, from Southport, who took her own life
Three months after the initial complaint, during another interview in the family’s living room, Semina went up and took a dose of a toxic drug used to treat a chronic condition.
Rachel said the boy, who was never charged, even admitted to police that he had sex with Semina but claimed she consented. Rachel claims it would still be a crime because a 12-year-old can’t give consent.
‘The little girl died thinking it was a word to her,’ Rachel told MailOnline.
‘His death could have been prevented because he knew it wasn’t his word. Why couldn’t he tell her? Why don’t you come and tell him, yes, he has confessed.’
When asked how she was treated by the police, she told MailOnline: ‘It’s disgusting. I can’t even begin to tell you. How can I move on with my life? I can’t.
‘I feel disappointed. I’ve never been in a situation like this to know how the process works. But from my experience I think it has been too slow. I think there has been a delay tactic.
‘I personally like cover after cover after cover. I believe that all interested parties are just delaying tactics, and I believe that the Semina story will eventually die and disappear.’
There will be another pre-inquest hearing in November, but Rachel fears it will be a long time before a full inquest.
Semina’s mother is angry that she could not retrieve her daughter’s phone from the police, three years after the tragedy.
He said he had been told by the police that he could not return it because there were ‘inappropriate images’.
Rachel told MailOnline: ‘The picture you’re talking about, I know what it is.
‘When she was forced to meet the perpetrators, she was forced to send nude pictures. So I’ve seen the picture.
‘Even though the case was closed for rape, when I was sitting in the living room, my lawyer was there, the detective was sitting there and he said, ‘Oh, I’ve been through the phone and the photos – she’s beautiful, and there’s a lot of singing and dancing’.
Semina’s mother is furious that she was unable to retrieve her daughter’s phone from the police, three years after the tragedy
Seminary’s funeral at St Patrick’s Church in Southport last year. Her coffin was carried in a horse-drawn carriage while mourners carried white roses
Floral tributes to Seminary. There is still no full inquest into her tragic death
‘There were thousands, and I said, ‘Wow that’s great, I can’t wait for them’. And he said, ‘Oh no, the phone will be destroyed’.
‘So in one breath, he just told me with a beautiful smile that there was a good video of us singing and dancing and photos and then I said, no, you’re not getting any more calls.’
Rachel told how her lawyer asked if the police couldn’t just delete the picture and give the phone back with more of the ‘beautiful photos’.
Add to the sadness and anger Rachel has a campaign of abuse from the perpetrator’s family.
Her voice shaking with anger, she explained: ‘We’ve had three years of absolute hell from that family. I have been chased in my car, my car has been spat on. There is nothing against her (the perpetrator’s mother).
‘I’ve been followed, beeping, screaming. There was persecution against my eldest son.
‘His son has threatened my youngest son. There have been many, many, many crimes that I have reported to the police, every single one, but they have protected me.
‘The perpetrator, he kept his head down, and he remained silent. And he was never seen.
Rachel shared a photo of Semina and her brother George – who had been in prison but had been released
‘He never appeared on social media. He never approached me. He never made himself known. He never caused any trouble. But the mother and the eldest son already have it.’
While the family is still reeling from the shock death, Rachel’s eldest son, George, has been to prison twice but was released in April this year.
Rachel explained: ‘He had been in prison when his sister died after a horrific ordeal. Something was said and he ended up beating someone up and then went to prison.’
On his way out of prison, Rafy’s brother was waiting for a taxi when his brother, the alleged rapist, started shouting at him.
George then sent angry messages to the mother of the two boys and was eventually hauled off to prison. ‘It was just a bad time,’ Rachel remembers.
A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: “The matter is currently being considered by the coroners of Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens and it is therefore not appropriate for Merseyside Police to comment on the substantive issues raised at this time, as we will not know. We do not wish to prejudice the coronial investigation. However, we have been, and are, cooperating fully with the coroner in this matter.
‘A formal complaint relating to the police investigation was received and is currently under review by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.’
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