For once -- good news! Child rapist convicted!

[elialshadowpine]

I was going to post something earlier today but needed to wait to get permission. Now that I have it, here goes. I'm sure omimouse will have a more detailed post up later once they're home, but these are the highlights from what she and Louis have told me.

First, I need to explain the people involved as they're a polyamorous group, which makes it more difficult than "husband" and "ex-wife." warinbear and catchild used to be married but were divorced a few years ago. omimouse is involved with both warinbear and louisadkins. ebonunicorn is catchild's new husband and partner of several years. There are three children involved: Bearcub, Puppy, and Pooka, listed by age. The eldest two are warinbear's; the youngest is ebonunicorn. They lived together at one point but Warin, Louis, and Naomi separated a few years back from Catchild and Ebon (whose name is on record as Paul Alexander Montgomery the Third, but I will refer to as Ebon for simplicity, and the fact that I hate he shares a name with my boyfriend).

A bit over a year ago, Bearcub confided in Louis and Naomi (who might as well also be her parents) that Ebon raped her from the time that she was 9 to when she turned 11. At that point, she demanded he stop, and he did -- but not without continuing to harass and express interest. This was reported to the police immediately, and DCS got involved.


Some might know that catchild has been a friend of mine since 04. Since neither household was on good speaking terms with the other, I acted as a go-between and mediator when this first started. At first, Catchild told me that she believed her daughter and fully supported her. The story slowly changed to say that it wasn't truly Ebon, but a demon that they had torn out of him and killed. I might have believed this had Bearcub not said that he continued to press the issue after the point Catchild claimed the demon was destroyed. Then... she told me something I could simply not ignore.

I have a chat log in which I expressed concern for Puppy's well-being, since Puppy was about the age as Bearcub when the abuse started. Catchild's response was to tell me that Puppy would be fine, because she wasn't his type.

Um...?

As events progressed, and Catchild turned against her daughter and tried to paint her as psychotic... it became obvious I had a choice. I could send the full transcripts to Warin, Louis, and Naomi to help their case (especially since DCS was fucking things up six ways from Sunday) ... or I could keep my friend's confidence and put the well-being of the kids (and potential future victims) at risk.

At this point, I should mention that Catchild is very mentally ill. She has multiple personality disorder to the point that she is unable to function normally. For awhile, she seemed to have it under control, but it had already started to spiral even before Bearcub came forward, and she lost it totally afterward. (I will say here that I have many friends with MPD or some variant, and I mention this only because of the severity.) I suspect that Ebon has taken advantage of her precarious mental state and manipulated her, because she is fully dependent upon him by this point. They are a D/s couple, which I have no issue with, until she outright stated that she would not seek medical treatment if injured unless he ordered her. That's not D/s, that's unhealthy dependence. Knowing the type of scum that Ebon is, I think that he would have taken full advantage and twisted Catchild into just what he wanted -- a helpless subservient unable to live without him.

I'm not trying to paint her as blameless, because mental state or no, she still made a choice and it has consequences. But I cut somebody that needs extensive in-patient therapy more slack than I do someone that's a sociopathic manipulative slimeweed.

I chose to give the chat logs to the three, and apparently they've made quite the rounds between the various DCS offices, the Sherriff, the DA, etc. I didn't think they would play an important role in the trial since it boils down to a "he said, she said" argument unless they subpoena Google's records, but that's getting ahead.

Ebon's trial was this week. Louis and Naomi were brought to the stand as witnesses yesterday, and Bearcub gave her testimony. I feel for the girl. OK, this is where I mention that the courtroom dramas get it all wrong. Witnesses were removed from the courtroom unless they specifically needed to give testimony or clarify a statement. Since Louis and Naomi were already witnesses, and Warin and Reana (her godmother) potential witnesses, along with two others... Bearcub was alone, save for Warin and Louis's mothers.

The bastard and his attorney tried to strip away her only support by demanding that all "potential witnesses" be removed from the courtroom. Since neither of the women were witnesses, prosecution stated, and nor were they acting out, there was no reason for them to be removed. Thank gods for that.

I understand Bearcub's testimony went on for close to three hours, describing in excrutiating detail precisely what was done to her on each separate incident. There were nine rape charges. I can only imagine the pain that poor girl went through, reliving everything that happened. I am so proud of her, and have nothing but respect for the strength she showed through all this. I'm not sure I would have been able to do it.

The next day...

Catchild was brought to the stand as a witness by defense. She was asked if she knew what multiple personality disorder was, and she replied in the affirmative. Had she been diagnosed with it? Yes. How many personalities were there now? "Over one hundred." Who are we speaking to right now? "Andara."

The claims that there was a demon in Ebon were brought up. "Which one?"

And then the chat logs came up. She was told what was in them and asked if she was aware of them. She denied it repeatedly. They brought the transcript forward and asked her to read her aloud. After she did so, they asked if that was her. She admitted it.

She was the defense's only witness. Not only did she put herself in a bad light in regards to her mental state, but she ... perjured herself by claiming ignorance and then stating otherwise. Which basically means she admitted in court that she knew her husband was interested in her daughter.

She then went on to try to paint her daughter as a manipulative child that was lying about the rape to get her way. Needless to say, no credence was given to that.

It took the jury less than an hour to make their deliberations. Guilty, on every charge.

Apparently, Catchild and Ebon were reasonably calm and collected -- more pissed and frustrated than freaking out -- until it was brought up that with the class of felony, his bail would be revoked. They both started crying. I suspect they meant to run after the trial was over, since he was on bail. Instead he was hauled out, not only in handcuffs, but in irons.

I'm ecstatic. DCS officials were at the trial and requested copies of the transcripts after Catchild made her statement about the logs. They've been trying to get Catchild and Ebon's parental rights revoked, and this should do the trick. After that, hopefully, there should be no trouble getting Warin's kids back from foster care. Then they can go home and start healing.

*deep sigh* There are far too many times when justice fails. I am glad this is not one of them.

I am sad for Catchild, and worried. She told me at one point that if he was convicted, she would commit suicide. That was said over a year ago; I don't know what she plans now. She is in a very precarious mental state, having lost her husband and now her kids too (and by her own actions). She's a wild card. I don't know what will happen, and to be truthful, I'm afraid of retaliation. I actually do hope that she is brought up on criminal negligence charges, because the only way she would get out of that is an insanity plea, and then she might actually get the help that she has been running from for so long.

I'm proud of what I did. I did not think that the transcripts I sent would make that much of a difference, but what was inadmissable turned into evidence with her confession. I am proud to have helped put a child rapist in prison. The formal sentence is not until next month, but TN law states that rape of a child carries a minimum of 25 years in prison that cannot be served consecutively with another conviction; there are 9 cases. The minimum length of time would be 225 years. Even if the judge decides differently -- even 25 years is good enough. I doubt very much TN is one of the states that segregates the child molesters and rapists from the rest of the prison populace for their own safety. And I hope that karma gets him in the ass.

Yes, I'm gleeful. I'm ecstatic. For once, something went right. For once, it went wonderfully right.

ETA: News article on the trial here. Also, Omimouse's entry.