Teen Girl's Rapist Fights for Visitation With Their Kid

Victim asks Massachusetts court to keep him away
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 26, 2012 1:05 PM CDT
Teen Girl's Rapist Fights for Visitation With Their Kid
   (Shutterstock)

A man who raped a 14-year-old girl in 2009 is now demanding visitation rights to see the child he fathered, reports MyFox Boston. His victim, however, wants the courts to keep him away. Part of the legal problem is that a judge sentenced the man, who was 20 at the time of the assault, to 16 years' probation instead of jail as long as he abided by the demands of probate and family courts. That means he has to pay child support, and because of that, he thinks he deserves visitation. "She got raped at 14," says the victim's mom. "She decided to keep her baby. And now she has to hand her baby over for a visit with her rapist?"

The victim's attorney wants a judge to fix the matter through legal semantics—call the money "restitution" instead of "child support" and strip the rapist of all parental rights. "He hasn't cared up until now. Why should he now? (The child) is three. She doesn't know who he is," says the victim. The outcome could well set precedent in Massachusetts, which, like most states, doesn't have a specific law on the books for this kind of thing, notes the TV station. (More rape stories.)

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