A Massachusetts man who raped a 14 year old girl over three years ago made her pregnant and now he wants to have the right to see the baby. The victim of the rape wants her rapist to be denied visitation rights and has asked the courts to make sure he stays away from her.
The convicted rapist, who was 20 years old at the time, was never sentenced to prison and was instead given 16 years of probation with the conditions of abiding by the demands of probate and family courts. One of the conditions was that he was required to pay child support. In that he is paying child support, the man is demanding visitation rights.
The mother of the rape victim is understandably upset about the possibility of her grandchild seeing her father. She said,
“She got raped at 14. She decided to keep her baby. And now she has to hand her baby over for a visit with her rapist?”
The attorney for the victim is asking the judge in the case to amend the language of the child support money and instead of calling it “child support”, call it “restitution”. This would take away the parental rights of the rapist.
The victim also does not understand why the father of her baby is only demanding rights after three years. She said,
“He hasn’t cared up until now. Why should he now? [The child] is three. She doesn’t know who he is.”
What ever the judge decides in the case could set a precedent in Massachusetts. Like most states, there are no laws to address this particular set of circumstances.
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