How does one comment on this?

[ABSTRUSE]

Ga. boys ages 8 and 9 charged with rape

ACWORTH, Ga. - Three boys, ages 8 and 9, were being held Monday in a detention center on charges of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl near a suburban apartment complex, officials said. The alleged attack happened Thursday and the girl's mother reported it to authorities Sunday, Acworth police Capt. Wayne Dennard said.


"The victim said they were playing outdoors and the girl was forced into a wooded area where she was sexually assaulted, where one of the boys raped her," Dennard told The Associated Press.

The three boys — an 8-year-old and two 9-year-olds — appeared in juvenile court Monday afternoon, dwarfed by the courtroom chairs and wearing navy blue jump suits and shackles. Their names were withheld because of their age.

Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head said the boys could not be charged with felony crimes because of their age but could be tried for alleged delinquent acts that could place them in a juvenile facility for up to five years.

The next step will be for the court to schedule a hearing to determine how to proceed in the case, Head said.

Juvenile Court Judge A. Gregory Poole issued a gag order preventing the lawyers from commenting further.

Acworth Police Chief Mike Wilkie said one of the boys was accused of threatening to hit the girl with a rock before the alleged assault. Wilkie also said the investigation is "far from over," and investigators are looking into claims that after the alleged attack, the girl talked about it with her friends at a slumber party.

The girl's mother told WGCL-TV in Atlanta, "They do need to be taught a lesson because if they do it to her, they could do it to somebody else. And who knows when they become teenagers what they can do to other girls."

The case involves children from a working class apartment complex. Acworth, 30 miles northwest of Atlanta along the shores of Lake Allatoona, is a town of about 17,000.

Acworth police said their department has never before investigated allegations of rape where all the parties were this young. "This wouldn't be normal anywhere, but especially not Acworth," Dennard said.

 

[iceburg1]

sad

sad, very sad

 

[tickledkitty]

I wasn't aware that boys that young would even be capable.

 

[slyc_willie]

Damn.

How does one comment, indeed?

Boys aged eight and nine years old allegedly raping a girl of eleven? Granted, if I was the father of the girl, 'd be roaring for blood. If I was the father of at least one of the boys, I'd be wondering what the hell I did wrong.

The victim's mother makes a good point about what they might do in the future. Still, these are kids. True, they went way too far, and I suspect there has been some neglect, abuse, or perhaps a little oversensitivity toward women in general int he boys' lives. Maybe they watched too much porn. Maybe their fathers are assholes. Who knows?

Until all the facts are known, I'd hesitate about giving the boys the full weight of the law. But they certainly do need to be punished.

 

[fifty5]

At 8 and 9 I don't think those kids really appreciated the sexual side of what they did.

That opinion is at least partly based on personal experience - at a similar age I rubbed my thingy in a similarly young girl's crotch and thought I'd "fucked" her (which shows what I knew - the word, but not what it meant!)

On the other hand, there's the force aspect. These boys need to be taught that forcing someone else to do something against their wishes is wrong. (My partner in pre-sex consented.)

IMHO, sex is a side issue here. I don't think any of the three kids could understand that aspect properly. What they can and should understand is the issue of forcing their will onto anyone else being wrong.

I doubt that in this year of grace (as they say), that is likely to be the official position, but it's what I see as important.

 

[WRJames]

The age of the girl should be shocking -- but after all, we have schools offering birth control to 11 year old girls. I think it's the age of the boys and the violence that makes this unsettling. Where are they getting the concept? Is it part of a larger pattern of sexual violence? It would not be surprising if some or all of them were victims of rape themselves.

 

[fieryjen]

I do agree that this is a bit disturbing, and there should be some measures taken to make sure the boys know what they did was wrong and learn never to do it again. But, seriously: "Navy blue jump suits and shackles" - are you fucking kidding me?

 

[Vermilion]

What I want to know is whether these boys have had any kind of psychological counselling? Sex crimes should be treated with counselling as it is, but especially when it concerns boys this young - it suggests that they've seen the black side of human sexuality and need help themselves. After that then it might be possible to judge whether further treatment or punishment is the best course to follow.

This is seriously disturbing whether the boys did it or not... because, if they didn;t do it, what inspired the girl to make the accusations?

At least they're protecting all the childrens' identities for the time being.

x
V

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'm not surprised at the rape, I'm surprised they let her live.

I was at a home last night. The children 7,8,9 told mom, several times, to fuck herself or gave her the finger. When mom threatened to spank them the girl told her, "Try it, bitch, and we'll throw you in jail."

Dad is 6-5 and afraid of them. He's been in jail once for false sex abuse allegations by the girl.

I got the case because the Care Bears have consistently failed to make any positive changes with the kids. These feral children sneer at appeals to reason.

 

[WRJames]

Well, one of the fathers of the boys is on the news today saying that the girl is so much bigger and stronger, that it doesn't seem possible that the boys could have forced her.

So -- maybe it's a false accusation? It wouldn't be the first time that has happened, with a lot of national publicity.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

WRJAMES

We have a local case where a Muslim girl made a report of being attacked. The attack was caught on video. But the police/school see no evidence of an attack. That is, no one assaulted the girl verbally or physically.

I suspect she removed her head scarf because she wanted to, was seen without the scarf, and the parents climbed up her ass. So she lied.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Well, one of the fathers of the boys is on the news today saying that the girl is so much bigger and stronger, that it doesn't seem possible that the boys could have forced her.

So -- maybe it's a false accusation? It wouldn't be the first time that has happened, with a lot of national publicity.

It's certainly possible it's a false accusation but just because she's bigger and stronger than any one of the THREE boys doesn't mean they didn't force her to do something she didn't want to. One can force someone without using physical force anyway. They did mention she'd been threatened with a rock. Many women are raped using intimidation rather than physical force.

Sadly, it doesn't really surprise me that much. It's not the first case I've heard of. I do wonder if they truly understand and whether the whole act was carried out because the boys were so young.

As for what they know, I recall an incident when I was younger and tossed a ball over a fence to a little boy who'd lost it. The words that came out of his mouth in thanks were straight from a porn film. Scary.

 

[MagicaPractica]

The age of the girl should be shocking -- but after all, we have schools offering birth control to 11 year old girls. I think it's the age of the boys and the violence that makes this unsettling. Where are they getting the concept? Is it part of a larger pattern of sexual violence? It would not be surprising if some or all of them were victims of rape themselves.

Birth control for eleven year olds may sound odd to you but my period started when I was nine and I can tell you I knew of one seventh grade girl in the school I worked in last year who was pregnant. I doubt that's as rare as we'd like it to be.

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

I want to know why this girl was discussing it amongst friends at a sleep over...? i mean...was there a 'discussion' or a 'report' of the event. They are two very different things.

I agree with those that suggest that this sexual violence cannot just have 'occurred' as a result of nothing. it was borne of something whether it be exposur to sexual violence as a 3rd party- watching porn for example, or being a victim of it.

I think the motives of the boys need to be assessed prior to any punishment being given, but again i agree that a punishment ought to be given if the accusation turns out to be true.

If it is not true, then wht possible motives does the girl have for saying such things?

 

[MagicaPractica]

If it is not true, then wht possible motives does the girl have for saying such things?

Attention seeking? Perhaps something akin to the teenage girls during witch hunt times who accused women of witchcraft in order to get attention.

I just think there is a lot to be discovered in this case and we'll probably never hear all of it. I hope that they get to the bottom of it and all parties involved get the help they need.

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

Attention seeking? Perhaps something akin to the teenage girls during witch hunt times who accused women of witchcraft in order to get attention.

I just think there is a lot to be discovered in this case and we'll probably never hear all of it. I hope that they get to the bottom of it and all parties involved get the help they need.

I forgot to say that if it is a false accusation i think the girl ought to be punished for spreading such information.

yes, attention seeking is a big one, and if that is the case then she's gotten exactly what she wanted- national attention, and to some degree international attention.

I think that for a person to say such things falsely, suggests they have some kind of issue.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Girls do the false accusations all the time. Boy's, too. It usually appears in child custody cases. I have a 12 year old client from a failed adoption. He sexually molested a 4 year old at the mom's daycare. She sent him back to the state, and he then said she was sexually abusing him.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Kids are rarely punished for making false reports. The adult gets dragged thru the papers and tv, and no one ever knows who the kid was.

 

[MagicaPractica]

I forgot to say that if it is a false accusation i think the girl ought to be punished for spreading such information.

yes, attention seeking is a big one, and if that is the case then she's gotten exactly what she wanted- national attention, and to some degree international attention.

I think that for a person to say such things falsely, suggests they have some kind of issue.

Absolutely. I'd say everybody involved needs some help at this point. If this happened, just the fact that she didn't run to her parents is sad. If it didn't happen, she needs some serious repercussions and counseling.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Terrible.

The local news did a STORY about a doctor who's researching the cause of these sorts of crimes.

 

[tickledkitty]

I just saw a thing where the father of one of the boys is saying it was consensual. He said the girl had been running around bragging to her friends, and it got back to her parents, and then she changed her story.

Oh, well that makes it OK then.

 

[jomar]

Tragic all around.