Sister of victim wants rapists released from jail

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  1. #1

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    Angry Sister of victim wants rapists released from jail

    With four Phoenix, Arizona, boys ages 9 to 14 charged with sexual assault on an 8-year-old girl, a prosecutor vowed Thursday his office will "seek justice for the young victim in this heartrending situation."

    Police say a girl was lured to a storage shed at an apartment complex where she was sexually assaulted.

    "This is a deeply disturbing case that has gripped our community," said Maricopa County attorney Andrew Thomas.

    According to Phoenix police, the girl was lured to a storage shed at an apartment complex on July 16. The four boys, who had offered the girl chewing gum, allegedly restrained and sexually assaulted her. At a news conference about the case Wednesday, police did not release any information on the girl's condition, but officers called the case one of the worst they have investigated in many years.

    The 14-year-old was charged as an adult and will face two counts of sexual assault and one count of kidnapping, Thomas said Thursday. The other three boys were charged in juvenile court with sexual assault, and two of them also were charged with kidnapping, Thomas said.

    All the suspects except for the 14-year-old live in the same apartment complex, according to Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill.

    The victim and the boys charged are all from refugee families that have come to the United States from the war-torn West African nation of Liberia, police said.

    Detectives said the girl was placed in the custody of Phoenix child protective services after the attack because of her parents' attitude toward her.

    "The parents felt that they had been shamed or embarrassed by their child," Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill said.

    The Phoenix Police Department has a community response unit that assists with such sensitive cases. "They made some initial contacts with the refugee community. They acted as liaison and were present when the child protective services agency took the victim," Hill said.

    Protective services officers "will determine what's going to happen in the days ahead and they'll look at the past history with that family, if there is one," he said.

    CNN affiliate KTVK said it interviewed the girl's 23-year-old sister, who said she was baby-sitting the girl at the time of the alleged attack.

    The sister, who was not identified by name by the station, expressed mixed feelings about her sister's attack. "I came to her and said it's not good for you to be following guys because you are still little," the sister told KTVK. She also said that she wanted the suspects to be released from jail because "we are the same people."

    "When she comes back I'm going to tell her don't ever do that again because all of us, we are the same family, we are from the same place. Now she is just bringing confusion among us. Now the other people, they don't want to see her," the sister told KTVK.

    Tony Weedor, a Liberian who fled civil war with his family and now lives in the Denver, Colorado, area, told CNN that cultural aspects are deep in the case. In Liberia rape was not against the law until 2006, he said.

    "The family [believes they] have been shamed by her, not a crime, but the name of the family has been degraded and news will get back to Liberia. And they're more concerned about that than the crime," said Weedor, who is co-founder of the CenterPoint International Foundation, which aids Liberian refugees in the United States and provides aid for those still in Liberia.


  2. #2

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    Poor little kid. Poor, poor little baby. What an environment to be brought up in where you can be blamed at age 8 for a rape! I hope the authorities take her a long way from these people and bring her up to have self respect and understand the law in her new country.


  3. #3

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    So would you forcibly separate all families from countries with this type of culture when they come to a western country, or only those who have been assaulted? Remember that the same culture is, for example, probably preventing young women from meeting (or marrying) men of their choice and so on. What about families that force their young women to wear a burqa - surely you should "rescue" those young girls too?

    You start down a very slippery slope with what you propose...


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    Cultural sensitivity only gets you so far. If you've consented to move to a foreign country, then you've also consented to respect its laws and customs.

    The 23yo sister should be charged with criminal negligent. And she wants to tell the little girl off for "bringing confusion among us." I'm happy that "the other people, they don't want to see her."

    She'd be much better off not seeing "the other people." (though I concede the girl might not feel that way.)


  5. #5

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    Hmm - cannot quote the previous post - but yes, she said exactly what I feel.

    Cultural sensitivity be damned when little kiddies are at risk in OUR society. They are not in Africa anymore.


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    I have seen Caucasian husbands of rape victims turn their backs on their wives after vicious assaults by very strong young attackers! It is shocking but that stuff happens. This husband told me when my police partner was showing his wife a photo line up (that included her rapist luckily) how distant from her etc he felt and how he blamed her for giving the assailant oral sex when she didn't do it with him. I was as nice and restrained as I could be while telling him he had just smashed her head into a wall and ripped her clothes off - what else could she do?

    I was first on the scene of a rape of a 7 year old girl who had been left alone by the single parent dad as we were two blocks away when the call came in. While my partner drove around I jumped out, got a description of the rapist and after the radio broadcast went to interview witnesses etc and to find out who let this guy in the front door of the building as they saw the attacker. I was shocked to find the people who let the guy in -a flat of 25 - 30 year old males and females coming back from a beer run and who didn't give a flying f..k that they let the rapist in the building. Their description was useless as they didn't care. I was equally shocked when I asked next door (wooden 3 story frame flats) if they heard any noise and yes they heard the girl scream but did nothing so that stuff runs across many cultures. They said there was always screaming coming from that flat. Yes, but not the girl being raped.

    This too is disgusting - blame the victim.

    Last edited by Football16; 24-07-2009 at 12:45 PM.

  7. #7

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    There's no law in the USA that I am aware that says it is illegal to feel ashamed about being assaulted.

    What about arranged marriages where the woman has no choice in who her husband is? Would you forcibly separate young women from homes that practise this?
    Last edited by PDLM; 24-07-2009 at 12:57 PM.

  8. #8

    There are enough stories about women who are forced into a marraige but finally muster the strength to leave if they so choose (mayeb few and far between, but they are after all grown women who are capable of standing on their own two feet) but here we are talking about a child, who cannot even differentiate wrong from right, forget making the decision to walk away from an unhealthy upbringing.

    but i dont think that separation is the answer either, education (for the parents) is probably a better approach.


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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    There's no law in the USA that I am aware that says it is illegal to feel ashamed about being assaulted.

    What about arranged marriages where the woman has no choice in who her husband is? Would you forcibly separate young women from homes that practise this?
    Similarly, it's not illegal to harbor racist/sexist sentiments ... it's only illegal to act/ express these sentiments outwardly.

    I sure hope there are some legal ramifications in teaching children that "it's your fault if you get raped." Children have been removed from bible-thumping families before when parents blatantly announced that they would not hesitate to beat their children should they misbehave. I don't see why we should condone families that teach children "following boys for a piece of bubble gum gives them the rights to rape you."

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    There's no law in the USA that I am aware that says it is illegal to feel ashamed about being assaulted.

    What about arranged marriages where the woman has no choice in who her husband is? Would you forcibly separate young women from homes that practise this?
    There is a big difference between arranged and forced marriages. Forced marriages are illegal in the UK for example whatever culture the woman comes from.

    I'm all for cultural sensitivity, but not when it goes against the laws of another country and involves hurt to someone against their will.

    I once reported to the police that a girl was screaming in a neighbour's house - and got slagged off by other neighbours for interfering. Would do it again though without a second thought.

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