Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Eight year-old allegedly indecently assaulted

There I was, reading this story, thinking, poor little girl, how awful, what a creep, what a b.....d, when an unbidden and not entirely welcome thought popped into my head; what if she made it up? She's obviously a child with some behavioural problems. If she did, what an utter nightmare for the man living next to the school. He is being regarded as guilty until proven otherwise.

In the past I would have taken this story at face value but now....well, such is the moral climate in which we live.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is becoming more and more difficult to be male in this climate. I would never stop to help a young woman (or even a boy) these days as you do not know what you might be accused of.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

mawm, there was a time I would have pooh- poohed your reservation. I still want to but can't.
What a loss.

Anonymous said...

It is easy to accuse and even when nothing comes of it the person accused is going to have suffered significant loses and continue to suffer them for the rest of his life. It is horrible when children do this. It is unexcuseable when adults do it.

Anonymous said...

I have just read the article you point to. I think your suspicion is well founded. The girl was causing trouble at school and walks out of class. When her mother faces her about her actions she diverts mom's anger by claiming "that's not all that happened".

This would not be the first time that a child her age has caused problems and then covers up her own guilty by inventing accusations. Kids know this tactic well. Any parent who had a kid in trouble and had them suddenly blurt out some sin of a sibling knows the diversionary tactic used by kids. I suspect that is what happened here.

Time may tell. But it is also entirely possible that this man will be innocent and still found guilty. Either way this child has ruined this man's life. There will always be people who will make assumptions.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Katherine Rich put out a press release which is possibly premature.
I'd have left it alone for now.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/
PA0703/S00086.htm