Prepare to feel conflicted. A father who says he found a man trying to molest his 4-year-old may be facing a whole other kind of trial. Cops in Shiner, Texas, say the little girl's dad put a stop to the assault then beat the man to death.
So far what cops will do with the dad remains up in the air. I'm not surprised; there's no easy answer here for them. Say you were put on a jury to face a case like that. Would you be able to make a decision that would let you go to bed that night with a clear conscience? I don't think I would.
I want to say that the fatal beating the Lavaca County sheriff says happened in a family house (no names have been released to protect the sexual assault victim's identity) on Sunday afternoon was the right thing and cheer from the rooftops.
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I'm a parent, for cripes sakes. I never want to see a child being hurt in any fashion. Just last night I sat in my house with my heart beating fast against my chest because I'd heard a rumor that a local teen had to be airlifted out of an accident scene (good news: it was one of those exaggerations that spreads on Facebook -- she's fine). In that sense, if the allegation of abuse is true, then I would have been shaking with anger and horror both. If I were that father, I would have wanted to kill that man.
But wanted to does not equal would have.
Consider this: when you take justice into your own hands, what happens? You get in trouble. You, the person who, up until that very moment, was in the right.
You may say it's "worth it" because the other person got what you thought was "coming," but you are forever marred by having sunk to the criminal level. You are what you profess to despise.
I can imagine that if this dad beat this man, he thought he was doing it for the right reasons. I hope that the police and prosecutors treat this whole case with that in mind. But there is no way to walk away from this one feeling anything but conflicted, is there?
What's your read? Do you think the accusations against this dad make him a criminal or a hero?
Image via Tex Texin/Flickr
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Comments 1120
are you nuts, if i caught somone raping anyone's 4 year old child, id kill the barstard with my bare hands or anything i could find.
Anyone who walks in on their 4year old child being RAPED, and still has a clear mind able to think about calling the Police should not have children. What was the dad suppose to do? Tell the sick bastard to stand still while he called the cops? No the bastard would have ran off. The father protected his child, he is not a murderer he acted in defense of a helpless baby.
Come on, ladies - Young boy "heroically" stabs mom's boyfriend while he is choking her - but yet a father who caught a 47-yr-old man RAPING his 5-yr-old daughter is not a hero.
The father CAUGHT the 47-year-old SEXUAL PREDATOR - Jesus Mora ? - RAPING his daughter. The PEDOPHILE is an ILLEGAL ALIEN w FAKE documents = ANOTHER SEX OFFENDER in the USA - bc the Obama Administration refuses to enforce federal legal immigration laws - and is refusing to close and enforce our US Borders.
The father was alerted by his young son that a man forcibly grabbed the little girl. The father followed the screams of his daughter - to find the 47-yr-old MAN, with his pants down - RAPING - his five-year-old daughter.
The Grand Jury did not issue an indictment = No Charges.