Child molester, arrested.
Pleads guilty, gets two years on probation.
Years later, caught again.
Another plea bargain, segregated unit, daily group therapy, TV in cell.
Ten years, out in five.
Third conviction, short sentence, released.
What madness is this?
Five decades of violating women and children.
Ex-wife and victims suicided.
Maybe more?
Perp lives comfortably in the suburbs.
Daughter is the same age as the dead mother now.
She could kill him.
Charged with murder, if she uses a weapon
Manslaughter with diminished responsibility, maybe
Ten years max, out in five; it’s worth it.
Less if she kills him with her bare hands
Less again if she calls an ambulance.
Provocation is her defense.
Failed by the system, the psych report might say.
Driven by intolerable grief and menopausal rage.
A favorable jury might acquit her.
Victims taking matters into their own hands?
Women fighting back?
We must make an example of her.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Silence is a form of compliance.
Truth is, I’m no killer.
Clinging obediently to a broken system
My weakness repulses me.
Stop the torment.
It’s either him or me.
He wins again.
They always do
Author Statement
I decided not to kill him or me, although for a while that seemed to be my only options.
Instead I spent a fortune on therapy and worked with a journalist to ‘out’ him in the local press, hoping that new victims would come forward and press charges. Dangerous, high-risk sex offenders, like my father belong in prison, not in the community.
My article was published last week. How will know if it has any impact? I probably won’t, but doing something is better than doing time or doing nothing.
