Sister of Liberian rape victim wants freedom -- for the suspects.

[pnwmom]

Just when you think that situation (the 8 year old girl who was gang raped by older boys, then disowned) can't get any worse, it does.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/23/phoenix.juvenile.assault/

SNIP

CNN affiliate KTVK said it interviewed the girl's 23-year-old sister, who said she was baby-sitting the girl at the time of the alleged attack.

The sister, who was not identified by name by the station, expressed mixed feelings about her sister's attack. "I came to her and said it's not good for you to be following guys because you are still little," the sister told KTVK. She also said that she wanted the suspects to be released from jail because "we are the same people."

"When she comes back I'm going to tell her don't ever do that again because all of us, we are the same family, we are from the same place. Now she is just bringing confusion among us. Now the other people, they don't want to see her," the sister told KTVK.

Tony Weedor, a Liberian who fled civil war with his family and now lives in the Denver, Colorado, area, told CNN that cultural aspects are deep in the case. In Liberia rape was not against the law until 2006, he said.

"The family have been shamed by her, not a crime, but the name of the family has been degraded and news will get back to Liberia. And they're more concerned about that than the crime," said Weedor, who is co-founder of the CenterPoint International Foundation, which aids Liberian refugees in the United States and provides aid for those still in Liberia.

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[BlooInBloo]

1. (facepalm)

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pnwmom]

4. Uh, no. n/t

[ejpoeta]

3. what the fuck is wrong with people!!! first of all, how the hell can an eight year old be to blame

for getting raped. secondly, even if she walked around NAKED in front of these boys, it still didn't give them the damned right to rape her. thirdly, what is wrong with people that four boys would even WANT to or be thinking of doing such a thing to anyone!! it just makes me want to cry.

[rollin74]

5. this bitch was baby-sitting the girl when she was raped

nice job. great supervision

[sakabatou]

6. WTF?!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Older sister should be charged

since she was supposed to be baby sitting and this happened. Child neglect or endangerment spring immediately to mind.

[dorktv]

8. Innocent until proven guilty people

Due process of law is still the standard and these boys have not pled or been found guilty after trial.

[pnwmom]

9. But the family is NOT being charged, and the harm they're doing to the girl

is even greater than the harm done to her by the original attack.

The family will never be proven guilty in a court of law but their own words condemn them.

[philosophie_en_rose]

10. So what?

If you can't show some compassion to the victim until there's a conviction, there's something deeply wrong. We don't know the names of the accused rapists and it's not a punishment to them for her family to stop treating her so poorly. It doesn't require a conviction to think there's something disturbing about someone that says their sister's rape doesn't matter.

[TexasObserver]

16. Nonsense. This is a message board, not a criminal court.

An 8 year old girl cannot give consent.

Have you found any dispute that she was raped?

[JI7]

17. nobody is saying they shouldn't be given a trial, we aren't a jury either

[DevonRex]

11. That 23-year-old sister needs to be charged with neglect. Disgusting.

[aikoaiko]

12. In some families, the well being of a little girl really isn't that important.

very sad.

[Bobbieo]

13. How did those people get into this country???? Aren't they the people we are

fighting in Afghanistan?

[galileoreloaded]

14. We are shocked that life is cheap in other cultures ????

Sometimes, I feel like this is not a very worldly crowd, despite assertions to the contrary. You don't even have to go very far.

Mexico, for example. Go tour the border of MX/Guatamala sometime. On the other hand, don't. It is quite brutal and harsh.

The only thing that amazes me more than peoples ability for cruelty and death is our amazing ability to project American (TM) values on disparate cultures.

Many of you should stay home, I fear for your collective psyches.

[pnwmom]

15. If they are going to come here, I think we should educate them to accept

the values of their NEW culture, rather than drag their old values with them here.

[galileoreloaded]

18. Agree completely. But not a very PC/multicultural idea. Thanks for the relpy. n/t

[philosophie_en_rose]

19. I think we should educate "ourselves," as well.

The family is more open about it, but the attitude that girls deserved it or are making too much of it is sadly common from families of abused children. I don't think you're wrong about education, but "Americans smart-Foreigners ignorant" is an unfortunate way to frame it. It's more like "rape apologists - not rape apologists." There are people like that in every country and culture.