Current mood:

*SNARL*

Eight-year-old gets raped by four boys, then gets disowned by family.
So, remember this girl? Whose rape was described as a heartrending attack?

She's been disowned for shaming her family.

Offers of help are pouring in for an eight-year-old Liberian girl disowned by her own family in Phoenix, Arizona, after being raped by four boys.

The girl is under the care of the Arizona Child Protective Service (CPS) because her parents said she had shamed them, and they did not want her back.

Phoenix police said calls had come in from all over the US offering money, or even to adopt the young girl.

The boys, Liberian immigrants aged nine to 14, have been charged with rape.

The case has sparked outrage across the US and even drawn condemnation from Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an outspoken anti-rape campaigner.

"I think that family is wrong. They should help that child who has been traumatised," Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf told CNN.

"They too need serious counselling because clearly they are doing something, something that is no longer acceptable in our society here," she added.

Media reports said the girl was lured into a shed on 16 July with promises of chewing gum by the four young boys.

There, they held her down and took turns assaulting her for 10 to 15 minutes, before her screams alerted officers nearby.

The oldest suspect, a 14-year-old boy, will be tried as an adult on charges of kidnapping and sexual assault, police said on Friday. He is being held in police custody until trial.
The other three - aged 9, 10, and 13 - are charged as juveniles with sexual assault and kidnapping.

But the police said no charges will be filed against the parents.

"They didn't abandon the child," Phoenix police sergeant Andy Hill told AFP news agency. "They committed no crime. They just didn't support the child, which led to CPS coming over there."

Sgt Hill said people from eight or nine US states had called wanting to adopt the girl or donate money.

"It has been unbelievably fantastic in terms of support for the child," he said.

(Post a new comment)

faultypremise
2009-07-25 01:45 pm UTC (link)

They may have committed no crime, but their actions are still sickening. It's heart breaking to think that even today, in our modern-ish world, there is still such backward thinking in Liberia and other countries.

I'm torn, to be honest. The parents are reacting the way they were culturally trained to react. From a country that only /recently/ began saying that rape is wrong. You can't undo society and culture and state of mind in a mere handful of years. Not even by uprooting them and placing them in the USA. In fact, because they are strangers in a strange world here, they may cling to their old and familiar ways even more for comfort and more sanity in a chaotic new life.

At the same time, I want to shake them all so hard and scream WHAT ARE YOU DOING; SHE'S YOUR DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	sandglass 2009-07-25 07:01 pm UTC (link)
	Because there's no victim blaming and rape culture in the United States? I wouldn't be at all surprised if this came from an American family. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	faultypremise 2009-07-25 09:39 pm UTC (link)
	Er, the article said the family was from Liberia and had recently come to the states. I never said there wasn't any rape and blame culture in America, either. Please don't be putting words in my mouth. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sandglass 2009-07-26 01:33 am UTC (link)
	No, you just said that even American culture couldn't overwrite the pro-rape Liberian culture. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

theladyfeylene
2009-07-27 01:45 am UTC (link)

No, but I get what she was saying. That even when transplanted to a country with a much, much more progressive view of rape (while victim blame does happen, it's nowhere near what it is in Liberia, and it's not the norm to blame pre-pubescent children) they haven't been here long enough to have adopted those views. They're still living their lives as though they lived in Liberia, and that sort of life long adherence to certain way of life don't go away quickly.

I'm really not getting where you're seeing that as...somehow ignoring or denying victim-blaming in America.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	sisterelwood 2009-07-27 08:32 pm UTC (link)
	No. (Reply to this)(Parent)

tachikoma01
2009-07-25 02:44 pm UTC (link)

The CNN article is... depressing. It's not just her parents, her own sister thinks that the bigger crime is that she fragmented the community, not that she was raped. And other communities seem to agree.

I realize there's a culture aspect, but it's depressing to realize exactly how many groups in the US who should have been around long enough to have more 'enlightened' views would do the exact same thing.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	deadwood 2009-07-25 04:38 pm UTC (link)
	Is the sister younger or older? 'Cause if she's younger (or only a few years older), then she could just be parroting her parents. It's hard for children of strong-minded parents to go against what they're told. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sarracenia 2009-07-25 05:06 pm UTC (link)
	Her sister's 23. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	deadwood 2009-07-25 07:31 pm UTC (link)
	Ah. So it is not excusable by virtue of being too young. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	jaseroque 2009-07-25 05:35 pm UTC (link)
	And was supposed to be babysitting her at the time. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lil_miss_stfu 2009-07-25 06:31 pm UTC (link)
	Hrm... Could be that missy is feeling a little bit guilty for not doing her job correctly and that's why she's being such a hardcore bitch. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	zyna_kat 2009-07-25 04:01 pm UTC (link)
	By the way, this has been posted before on this community: http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/138845.html (Reply to this)

	shinga 2009-07-25 04:52 pm UTC (link)
	I'm just going to focus on the part where all these people, total strangers, are offering money and adoption, because at least that I can smile about. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	tourniquette 2009-07-25 05:57 pm UTC (link)
	I agree. I just cannot process the rest of this idiocy without the hopeful aspect. I think I would break down. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	goblin 2009-07-25 06:35 pm UTC (link)
	brb, off to burn the world to the ground. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	honorh 2009-07-26 02:52 am UTC (link)
	I'll bring the salt. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	honorh 2009-07-26 02:54 am UTC (link)
	I wonder if they'll ever see the irony--that in accusing the child of bringing shame, they've brought shame on themselves in their new country. (Reply to this)

	alienist 2009-07-26 05:20 am UTC (link)
	Wouldn't lack of support be, you know, neglect? At least Liberia's president seems pretty awesome. (Reply to this)

	tehrin 2009-07-26 06:29 am UTC (link)
	Could we put this behind a cut please? Rape, child molestation, and et cetera are trigger subjects for some people. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	nostariel 2009-07-26 07:25 pm UTC (link)
	Seconded. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	lazzchan 2009-07-26 05:27 pm UTC (link)
	!!! That poor child... it must be horrible to have gone through such a thing and not even have the support of your family. D: (Reply to this)(Thread)

	quantumreality 2009-11-21 12:33 pm UTC (link)
	yeah. D: (Reply to this)(Parent)