A 12-year-old boy was invited for a sleepover at his close friend’s house but never knew there was a plot against him. He wasn’t aware that another 13-year-old girl would be there to ruin his life forever.
The accused rapist will be referred to as Michael in this story for confidentiality purposes.
Michael was seduced by an “experienced” girl who had consensual sex with him that night but not for the fun of it.
Surprisingly, the girl who stole his virginity later filed a report for rape. She had it all planned.
The poor boy was later arrested by cops who treated him like a condemned criminal, even before he was found guilty. He spent time in police cell and was expelled indefinitely from school.
Worse still, Michael was given a restraining order from girls who are under 16.
He wore the shameful medal of a rapist for a whole fourteen nightmarish months until his accuser confessed to the crime.
U. K. Social services neglected the boy and his traumatized mother who says her pain from the November 2015 incident will never be erased.
“It felt very much like a case of guilty until proven innocent,” she told The New Day, according to a report.
“My poor boy was treated like an adult on a brutal sex charge.
“He was terrified, and this will now affect him for the rest of his life.”
Michael’s mother said she was shocked when police went knocking at her door three days later. They requested to speak with her son who was also with his friend at that time.
She claims the cops failed to give any explanations on why they needed to see Michael.
“I was so confused,” she said.
“I thought maybe he had been in a scuffle, I was getting ready to tell him off for stealing a bike or something.
“He has never been in trouble, he is cheeky but he is a good boy. He was in the top sets of everything at school, he was popular, teachers loved him.
“I’ll never forget it. I went to his friend’s house to get him with the police.
“I ran in before them and asked him what he had done, he was playing the computer in his pajamas and he looked at me in total confusion and said, ‘I haven’t done anything, mum’.
“The next thing I remember is us leaving the house and the policeman saying he was arresting my 12-year-old baby on suspicion of rape.
“My entire world collapsed. I thought there must be some stupid mistake.”
The poor boy was taken to a nearby police station, booked for rape and remanded in custody.
She recalls screaming and protesting that her boy was too young to be locked up. Sadly, all pleas fell on deaf ears.
Micheal was kept in a cell next to adults, but that wasn’t really bad.
Some other adults were later arrested and taken to share the same room with this 12-year-old. He was terrified but the cops and social services weren’t bothered.
The police requested for DNA samples: fingerprints, blood, semen and pubic hair, which were all taken at the police station.
“They told me they wouldn’t be doing it if it was against the law. I felt helpless. I wanted to protect my child, and I could do nothing,” the depressed mother said.
Michael was checked in to the police cell at 7:30pm but released around 3:30am after his mother agreed to take him back for statements in the morning.
“In the end they agreed I could take him home as long as I had him back for an interview at 10am the next day,” she explained.
The innocent boy had a shower and a good night sleep but his mother stayed awake watching over him as he slept. Thoughts of absconding with Michael in order to avoid further torture from the cops was all she pondered in her heart.
The woman added: “It was hours of torture. They were already treating him like he was guilty.
“I had thoughts occasionally of running away with him. Protecting him seemed out of my hands.”
As instructed, Michael went to the police station with his mother but lied to everyone, including his mom, that he never had sex with the 13-year-old girl. He was probably scared, or never knew there was something he left in her accuser.
He probably knew nothing about DNA tests, too.
“I think he thought it would all go away but he had little grasp of how serious it was. When DNA came back he apologized and told us he was really scared,” the mother said.
“I always believed that he had not raped her, he doesn’t know what that means and it was his first time.”
The angry mom said “life stopped” for her son all through that 14 months. She felt scared that he may attempt suicide because people were talking thrash about them.
“Life stopped for him. Bail conditions meant he was pretty much housebound and it felt like everyone knew and everyone was talking,” she admitted.
“I was scared to let him out of my sight in case someone hurt him.”
The woman’s worst pain was on the neglect they suffered from cops and social services. She said they neither received calls nor any kind of support from human rights agencies.
In her words: “What angers me is that not once did we have a single call from social services.
“My argument is, if a 12-year-old is capable of rape, why are the professionals not asking questions about the family life? It is not normal.
“After being chucked out of school we eventually got Tom in a special school for boys with behavioral difficulties but it didn’t work because he was not like those children and he was scared. He lost a year of his education.”
Michael and his mother found a way to move on until this January when he was arraigned in court. Legal proceedings in a juvenile court lasted four days though it has been 14 months since he was accused.
The girl who accused Michael of sexual assault, confessed in court that she had to lie about being raped so her new boyfriend wouldn’t know she wasn’t a virgin. She said their sex was consensual and added that she had multiple sexual partners before the incident.
“I was not in the court when they acquitted him,” Michael’s mother told the news outlet after her son was found innocent.
“All of the family were there to support us and I felt like I was going to have a panic attack so I left the court.
“I will never forget him stumbling outside, running into my arms and sobbing.
“I couldn’t work out whether it was good news or bad because he was crying so much, but he managed to get out the words: ‘It’s over mum, not guilty’ and we cried together. I thought he was coping brilliantly but it was all pent up inside.”
After the court case was concluded, Michael relocated from their home in East Anglia and traveled far north to be with his father. He couldn’t live with the shame.
“He’s always welcome. I’m just pleased he’s not in prison for something he didn’t do,” she added.
A police spokesperson in the county where Tom was arrested said the officers didn’t violate Michael’s rights as a teenager by arresting and keeping him in custody.
“Certain procedures are followed when a child is arrested but it is not uncommon for a child to be placed in a cell for a serious crime, as the age of legal responsibility is 10,” she said
“It is not unusual for us not to tell an adult prior to a child;s arrest what the child is being arrested for. This is to protect the integrity of the investigation.”
