Hi everyone.
I have been reading through this forum for some time but this is the first time I have joined and posted.
My story is very similar to most of the stories on here.
An accusation came at me from absolutely nowhere, my 17 and 19 year old nieces both came forward to the police and claimed that I had raped them multiple times over a 3 or 4 year period when they were children. They claim this started when they were 3 and 5 years old and I was 20 years old.
Now before I go any further, let me make this very clear, I never laid a finger on either child at anytime.
When this accusation was made I was engaged to be married to a Woman I loved very much, I had a large and loving family and a number of friends.
My first reaction was one of complete shock. My second reaction was that as this never happened, the whole thing would be cleared up very quickly.
As you can probably guess, my second reaction was very wrong indeed. I was arrested, charged and eventually found myself in Crown Court.
Despite the fact that there was no evidence at all against me, despite the fact that my lawyer was able point out numerous flaws in my accusers stories and despite the fact that the girls changed their stories no less than 4 times during the Police 'investigation'. I was found guilty and sentenced to 4 years in prison.
The real punishment for me however had nothing to do with the courts. the real punishment as far as I am concerned is the fact that I lost everyone I ever loved.
My family (with the exception of my Mother) completely disowned me within days of the allegations from my nieces. They believed the girls, they could not believe the girls would lie about "something like this". My fiance stood by me for a few months but then needed "time away from the stress". She never came back. My one supporter, My old Mum, died while I was in prison. I was not allowed to go to the funeral because my family objected. I have been out of prison for a few years now. I have appealed a number of times against my sentence, everyone has been rejected. I have had to move to a different part of the country for my own safety. I no longer have a family, I have no-one.
Members of my family told me that if I "owned up" and spared the girls the "horror of testifying in court" they would try to find it in their hearts to forgive me, I refused. I was offered the chance to plead guilty in court, in fact my lawyer DEMANDED I plead guilty but I refused. I was offered time off from my sentence if I accepted guilt, I refused. I was in and out of prison for a bit because I refused to accept guilt and take part in a SOTP. I was determined to right this wrong, I was determined to be vindicated.
I know I did not do this but I have accepted that unless my accusers come clean - which after all this time is nothing more than a dream - I will forever be guilty in the eyes of law and in the eyes of the public.
I am not going to ever encourage innocent people to plead guilty, as I have already said I did not plead guilty. I refused to accept guilt because I was not guilty but in reality what difference does that make.
I am a registered Sex Offender with everything that entails.
Everyone from my past believes I am a monster.
Probation and the Police treat me like I am a danger to the public because I show no remorse for my 'crime'.
I often lay awake at night and wonder if things could have been any worse if I had plead guilty.
I have been reading through this forum for some time but this is the first time I have joined and posted.
My story is very similar to most of the stories on here.
An accusation came at me from absolutely nowhere, my 17 and 19 year old nieces both came forward to the police and claimed that I had raped them multiple times over a 3 or 4 year period when they were children. They claim this started when they were 3 and 5 years old and I was 20 years old.
Now before I go any further, let me make this very clear, I never laid a finger on either child at anytime.
When this accusation was made I was engaged to be married to a Woman I loved very much, I had a large and loving family and a number of friends.
My first reaction was one of complete shock. My second reaction was that as this never happened, the whole thing would be cleared up very quickly.
As you can probably guess, my second reaction was very wrong indeed. I was arrested, charged and eventually found myself in Crown Court.
Despite the fact that there was no evidence at all against me, despite the fact that my lawyer was able point out numerous flaws in my accusers stories and despite the fact that the girls changed their stories no less than 4 times during the Police 'investigation'. I was found guilty and sentenced to 4 years in prison.
The real punishment for me however had nothing to do with the courts. the real punishment as far as I am concerned is the fact that I lost everyone I ever loved.
My family (with the exception of my Mother) completely disowned me within days of the allegations from my nieces. They believed the girls, they could not believe the girls would lie about "something like this". My fiance stood by me for a few months but then needed "time away from the stress". She never came back. My one supporter, My old Mum, died while I was in prison. I was not allowed to go to the funeral because my family objected. I have been out of prison for a few years now. I have appealed a number of times against my sentence, everyone has been rejected. I have had to move to a different part of the country for my own safety. I no longer have a family, I have no-one.
Members of my family told me that if I "owned up" and spared the girls the "horror of testifying in court" they would try to find it in their hearts to forgive me, I refused. I was offered the chance to plead guilty in court, in fact my lawyer DEMANDED I plead guilty but I refused. I was offered time off from my sentence if I accepted guilt, I refused. I was in and out of prison for a bit because I refused to accept guilt and take part in a SOTP. I was determined to right this wrong, I was determined to be vindicated.
I know I did not do this but I have accepted that unless my accusers come clean - which after all this time is nothing more than a dream - I will forever be guilty in the eyes of law and in the eyes of the public.
I am not going to ever encourage innocent people to plead guilty, as I have already said I did not plead guilty. I refused to accept guilt because I was not guilty but in reality what difference does that make.
I am a registered Sex Offender with everything that entails.
Everyone from my past believes I am a monster.
Probation and the Police treat me like I am a danger to the public because I show no remorse for my 'crime'.
I often lay awake at night and wonder if things could have been any worse if I had plead guilty.
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