“Instead of bringing me home, he brought me to his house,” Abelseth said about John Barnes, who was 30 at the time. “Once inside, he raped me on his living room couch.”
“Everyone assumed it [the pregnancy] was from a boyfriend, and I let them believe that,” Abelseth said.
Five years later, Barnes reportedly reappeared after learning that the child might be his.
“When my daughter was five years old, he found out about her, and once he found out about her, he pursued custody and wanted to take her away from me,” Abelseth explained.
“They granted him 50/50 custody despite the fact that [the child] was caused by rape.”
“I thought if I didn’t do it the next day, there was nothing I could do about it,” Abelseth reportedly said. “I went to a trauma counselor, and he said, ‘No, you have 30 years after you turn 18.'”
“It was never assigned to a detective, and nothing was ever investigated,” Abelseth said.
“When I found out she was a rape victim, and this rapist could potentially get full custody, that’s when I stepped in and said something has to be done about this,” said Stacie Triche of Save Lives.
“She’s been forced to pay her perpetrator,” Triche said. “Forced to pay her rapist child support and legal fees and give up custody of the child that’s a product of the rape. It makes no sense.”
Even if charges of forced rape could not be confirmed, legal commentators pointed out that the age gap between Abelseth and Barnes would constitute statutory rape. In Louisiana, the legal age of consent is 17.
“It seems pretty straightforward that not only did a crime take place, but as a result of the crime, this person should not have custody of the child,” said Sean Cassidy, a lawyer with the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault.
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So is something being done? Do we need to sign a petition? This is messed up