RE: Voice of Elmo accused of sexual relationship with underage boy
November 20, 2012 at 4:19 pm
(This post was last modified: November 20, 2012 at 4:20 pm by Cyberman.)
Unfortunately, in many people's minds, this sort of crime is one of the few in which the mere accusation is enough for a conviction. I've learned from experience, even if I was unaware before, that accusations are not necessarily indications of guilt. The police are duty-bound to investigate all accusations, true or not, otherwise how would they tell one from another? However, that's only the start of the process. It may indeed be the case that the accusations are true, but until the evidence has been assessed and the verdict delivered it's not my place to pass opinion. Even after the dust has settled, it may still emerge that the accusations were bogus. I've even got a "for instance".
There is an individual of my acquaintance who about twenty years ago was accused of something similar. I'm not going to reveal this person's name or my relationship to him, even if I were at liberty to do so (before anyone grabs the wrong end of the stick and beats about the bush with it, no it wasn't me). Anyway, this person was arrested and brought to trial, based on the accusations alone. I along with other potential witnesses recorded voluntary statements in his defense, since I at least knew for a fact that he was not guilty, yet we were never called to speak in court. It's a pretty long and involved story, but basically this person was scared into pleading guilty - not because he actually was guilty, but the advice from his solicitor was that by pleading guilty he'd likely get a lesser sentence than if he went through with the trial and ended up being found guilty. Plus he didn't want to drag all his friends and family through a long and messy trial; thus the guilty plea. He ended up serving nine years.
As for the accusers, as memory serves there were about five or six of them and the majority melted into the woodwork as the process went on. Even the chief accuser refused to go through with it; he said that he didn't want to play his mother's games any longer. The remaining accusers were offered counselling to help them overcome the trauma of being abused, but they turned it down, because they feared someone might spot that they'd lied. In the end the judge ruled that since they'd refused the counselling, the experience had clearly not adversely affected them and so they were ruled ineligible for compensation - which, we learned, is what the whole exercise had been about in the first place.
All of this only came out afterwards of course, but by then it was far too late. An innocent life had been destroyed. Even years after leaving prison, this person is still trying to pick up the pieces. After all, as I have heard from people who have an opinion but little knowledge of the case, there's no smoke without fire. Except when there is.
There is an individual of my acquaintance who about twenty years ago was accused of something similar. I'm not going to reveal this person's name or my relationship to him, even if I were at liberty to do so (before anyone grabs the wrong end of the stick and beats about the bush with it, no it wasn't me). Anyway, this person was arrested and brought to trial, based on the accusations alone. I along with other potential witnesses recorded voluntary statements in his defense, since I at least knew for a fact that he was not guilty, yet we were never called to speak in court. It's a pretty long and involved story, but basically this person was scared into pleading guilty - not because he actually was guilty, but the advice from his solicitor was that by pleading guilty he'd likely get a lesser sentence than if he went through with the trial and ended up being found guilty. Plus he didn't want to drag all his friends and family through a long and messy trial; thus the guilty plea. He ended up serving nine years.
As for the accusers, as memory serves there were about five or six of them and the majority melted into the woodwork as the process went on. Even the chief accuser refused to go through with it; he said that he didn't want to play his mother's games any longer. The remaining accusers were offered counselling to help them overcome the trauma of being abused, but they turned it down, because they feared someone might spot that they'd lied. In the end the judge ruled that since they'd refused the counselling, the experience had clearly not adversely affected them and so they were ruled ineligible for compensation - which, we learned, is what the whole exercise had been about in the first place.
All of this only came out afterwards of course, but by then it was far too late. An innocent life had been destroyed. Even years after leaving prison, this person is still trying to pick up the pieces. After all, as I have heard from people who have an opinion but little knowledge of the case, there's no smoke without fire. Except when there is.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
