14 yr old rape victim sent to jail

Here is the link to the News 4 website here in Albuquerque.

girl sent to jail

This is my first post, so I hope this is the correct forum. I saw this story on tv & found the article. The step-father should be the one in jail, not this girl and she had to spend Christmas behind bars while the pervert was allowed to enjoy his holiday.

The poor girl is probalby scared to death to testify against her step dad! Its hard for a rape victim to face their attacker, but when you live with them..outch. I say shame on the DA! To take away a girls holiday after such a horrific event......

reply to post by CherokeeDan


I've read the story and it is a tough one. I can see both sides. The rape seemingly occurred five years ago and the girl is presumably wanting to put it behind her - or she feels that she is in danger again if she testifies. The justice system on the other hand feels the need to put the stepfather behind bars. As I say, both sides have a valid perspective.

By repeatedly failing to appear in court as promised to testify she is wasting the time and effort of all those who want to see her stepfather imprisoned - not to mention the money involved in such a prosecution. They are trying to get someone that they consider a danger to the community put away 'for a long time' - she will not co-operate, should she be forced to? I would say no, but then who exactly is protecting her. There is no mention of the mother's involvement which I find worrying.

Do you have any additional information? I agree that it is a heavy handed approach but I am reluctant to judge as this seems to be a unique situation and perhaps the heavy handed approach was in this case necessary. She is after all a child and the authorites, although appearing to punish her may be trying to get her out of a situation that she is powerless to end herself. Again, why isn't the mother ensuring that she appears in court and her rapist sent to prison?

come on! she is 14, how is she supposed to get to court? drive?

who is to say what the step father and mother's influence are. they could be ashamed and trying to stop this from going to court.

She may not understand the consequences of not going to court, she could think it was like missing a dentist appointment, you just reschedule.

"Prosecutors say the step father is out of jail and intimidating the teen to keep her from testifying."

i can't believe they would put a rape victim in jail, let alone a 14 year old!

reply to post by elusivetruth


The guy raped her presumably when she was 9 years old. Prosecutors have been pursuing the case for 5 years, not just for her benefit but the wider community. If her stepfather is so ashamed them perhaps he should plead guilty and prevent the girl from needing to testify at all.

She has missed more than one court appointment, the 'I didn't know any better argument' fails after the first time.

I don't agree with locking her in jail - it is heavy handed but if this guy did indeed rape her at the age of 9 then the now 14 year old should follow through what she started to ensure that every 9 year old in the community is protected. She has to testify to ensure a conviction and she is not only not co-operating but obviously stringing the prosectors along wasting everyones time. Where is the mother? Why should the mother be ashamed, her job is to protect her daughter and the best way she can do that is to get her daughter to court when she is supposed to be there.

As I said I do not agree with locking a victim up but I can see why the prosecution may have felt that this was their only hope of getting the girls testimony. It must be incredibly frustrating and it is easy to judge when all the facts of the case are not presented. Perhaps if the rape advocates were more proactive and less critical of the system she would have received the support that she required to attend court. The system can only do so much within the parametres it is set.

At the end of the day the courts are trying to protect this girl and others, I doubt very much that their decision was taken lightly.

I know it sucks that she got put in jail but there is a reason for it and it is not for being raped, that is actually only a second hand issue here for this case.

On the other hand why isn’t the court trying to get her a ride there?

One other thing to note though is that being in jail might be the safest thing for her right now and will guarantee she makes the next court appointed date.

Actually now that I think about it this might be what is intended to begin with. If you are in jail you get a ride to court. So this actually could be a very good thing. Her step dad can’t hurt her and she will make the court date, sort of a protective custody in a way.

Raist

Okay, I found the update to that story. Here's the link.

DA Criticized

Protecting the girl is fine, but throwing her in jail seems too extreme. She could have been sent to a relative's house or a friend's or a foster home or even one of those rape crisis centers. To me, this sends a bad message to other girls and women who've been raped because they might think they'll goto jail of they speak up. As a previous post mentioned, I too would like to know where her mother is during all this. Is she afraid of her husband? It'll be interesting to see how this all turns out.

Is the stepfather still out and about? If so, then he could find her at a friend's are relative's house. How did the authorities learn about this rape in the first place? Surely if there was an admission from the girl in the first place couldn't this be used in court? Was there a witness? I doubt it because the girl is needed in court. It may be heavy handed, but this monster needs to be put away and the girl will regret it later in life if she doesn't stop him and he rapes another little girl.