QUESTION
I HAD SPOKE WITH SOMEONE BEFORE ON ABUSE OF MY 15YR OLD DAUGHTER BUT I THINK HE MISUNDERSTOOD ME
Asked on May 14th, 2012 on Sex Crimes - Massachusetts
More details to this question:
MY DAUGHTER AND HER COUSIN KATIE WERE SEXUALLY MOLESTED BY MY NEICE KAYLIN THIS HAPPENED WHEN MY DAUGHTER WAS 7YRS OLD AND AGAIN WHEN SHE WAS ABOUT 10-11YRS OLD SHE IS NOW FIFTEEN AND CAME OUT AND TOLD US THIS THAT HER COUSIN KAYLIN WHO IS A FEMALE AND WAS ALSO A MINOR MOLESTED MY DAUGHTER AND MY OTHER NEICE KATIE,. BUT BECAUSE THIS HAPPENED WHEN THEY WERE YOUNGER WHAT WILL HAPPEN KAYLIN THE ONE WHO DID THE ACT IS 21YRS OLD NOW MY DAUGHTER HOWEVER IS STILL A MINOR
1 ANSWER
This is a complicated issue. I can answer it as a criminal defense attorney. Your niece can be prosecuted. The statute of limitations for indecent A & B is 27 years from your daughter's 16th birthday. It is a15 year statute of limitations for rape. I do not know the facts relative to molestation, whether it was rape or indecent A & B. It is more complicated in that your niece may have been a minor when this occurred. There becomes an issue if she is tried as a juvenile or adult. Punishment will differ. If your daughter wants to prosecute her cousin then she could go to the police. She may wish to discuss the matter with a therapist before any decision is made. Your daughter has a multitude of issues to discuss. How she feels now? What impact the event had on her? Is she prepard to testify and discuss this issue before a jury, if she wants her cousin prosecuted?
Answered on May 14th, 2012 at 7:45 PM