By MAMAMIA TEAM
WARNING: The following content includes descriptions of abuse. If this is a trigger subject for you, you may want to sit this one out.
An American man who killed his daughter’s rapist will not spend a single night in prison. In fact, police have decided they won’t even bother pressing charges.
It’s a seriously loaded sentence, and carries some loaded questions too.
The 24-year-old father, a Texas rancher, allegedly found one of his employees abusing his 5-year-old daughter.
On the day of the alleged assault, the father sent his daughter and her brother out to feed the chickens. Soon after, the boy rushed back in distress, and told the father that someone had grabbed his sister, and carried her off to the nearby barn.
The father left and – following the sound of his daughter’s cries for help – and found 47-year-old Jesus Mora Flores molesting his daughter behind the barn. According to documents from the court, both the girl and Flores had their underwear removed.
Flying into a rage, the father pulled Flores away from his daughter, before hitting him several times around the head and on his neck until the molester fell unconscious.
The father quickly called 911. Authorities released the distressing tapes of the call, as the frantic 24-year-old begged for help.
“I need an ambulance. This guy was raping my daughter and I don’t know what to do,” he said.
The rancher had trouble describing his location and told the 911 dispatcher, “Come on! This guy is going to die on me! I don’t know what to do.”
Authorities have confirmed that a sexual assault did indeed take place, which means that the identity of the father and the girl are not being revealed in line with laws regarding sexual assault cases involving children.
Although Flores’ death was initially investigated as a homicide, the father has not been charged with the crime. A sheriff the area said back in June that he was not willing to press charges against the 24-year-old, and that the case would instead be presented to a jury.
Sheriff Micah Harmon told CNN that the father was “very remorseful”. “You have a right to defend your daughter,” he continued. “The girl’s father acted in defense of his third person. Once the investigation is completed we will submit it to the district attorney who then submits it to the grand jury, who will decide if they will indict him.”
In the end, the district attorney decided not to press charges.
District Attorney Heather McMinn explained the reasoning to reporters, who she told:
Under the law in the state of Texas deadly force is authorised and justified in order to stop an aggravated sexual assault or sexual assault.
All the evidence provided by the sheriff’s department and the Texas Rangers indicated that’s what was occurring when the victim’s father arrived at the scene.
The case raises questions about whether there are any situations – and under what kind of circumstances –force might be justified to protect the people you love.
Although we have all heard the adage, ‘violence is never the answer’, there are undoubtedly many parents who would not think twice before trying to physically restrain or incapacitate another adult, in an attempt to protect their child.
And yet — a man has been killed.
Other individuals from within the Texan community were, for the most part, in support of the father’s case. One man said, “He [Flores] got what he deserved, big time.”
Another commented, “I agree with him totally. I would probably do worse. The family will have to deal with that the rest of their lives, no matter what happens to the father. Even if they let him go, he and his child will have to deal with that the rest of their lives.”
Do you think justice in this situation has been done?
Top Comments
I think the
point is being missed here. Not a single reader of this article would deny what the sexual offender did was disgusting. It is completely understandable, and agreeable by some, as to the father reaction. But that doesn’t make it right. We are lucky, as are Americans, do be privileged enough to live in a country where the legal justice system actually works (for the most part). Most places in the world don’t! Just because we can identify with the father doesn’t mean his actions are legally defendable. To take a life is still wrong, wether you want to believe that or not. I may have done the same if it were my daughter but I would have to accept the consequences of my actions.
The main problem with applying the death sentence as a penalty is that it can’t be effectively regulated. How does one draw the line as to what’s an acceptable offense before it’s “fair” to take a person’s life?
We cannot, as a functional society, regulate one set of standards for determining life and death for criminals and another for the rest.
If you say “they deserve to rot in hell” they you believe there is something after this life. So why not let them face their judgment when their time is up.
If you don’t share this belief then why not let them “rot in a cell” instead? Economically it costs the tax payer less for a life in prison sentence than the death
sentence.
What’s saddest for me is that I’ve seen acts like this happen every day in countries you don’t hear about in the news. It’s only the rare moments in the Western world that such things are broadcasted. Regardless of your stance on this, I wish your passion and outrage can also be accompanied with information and education in an effort for you to do something about it where it can make a difference.
You toucha my kid, I breaka your face.