LINK Woman Says She’s Been Ordered to Pay Her Rapist Child Support
A Louisiana woman is seeking justice after her alleged rapist was granted full custody of her daughter.
Crysta Abelseth told WBRZ the assault took place in 2005 when she was just 16 years old. She claims she was at a bar when she met a then-30-year-old John Barnes, who offered to take her home. Abelseth, now 32, says Barnes instead took her to his residence and raped her on his living room couch. She says the attack resulted in pregnancy.
“Everybody else just assumed it was from a boyfriend, and I just let them believe that,” she explained.
Abelseth said Barnes learned about the child in 2011 and decided to pursue custody. A subsequent DNA test confirmed Barnes was the father, and he was initially granted 50 percent custody. It was a shocking decision, as the sexual encounter—even if consensual—was illegal due to Abelseth’s age at the time. Under Louisiana law, no one under 17 can legally consent to sexual intercourse.
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4 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Look at the Facts, not the nonsense inflammatory headline:
Actually, she is paying Child Support to the CHILD, as do millions of parents.
The child was removed from her custody........
AnneWimsey
Level 9
June 18, 2022
1
My primary concern is putting the daughter in the care of an accused rapist. I think it may puts her in danger.
This story actually made me sick to my stomach. What kind of a world is this?
TheoryNumber3
Level 8
June 18, 2022
1
I find this baffling, perplexing, and contrary to all logic and natural justice. Unless there is an unknown factor to this story that we are not being told it goes against all Ms Abelseth’s human rights and expectations of the law protecting her as a victim of rape when she was still a minor. Her rapist hasn’t been charged and that means she’s been denied justice, which is bad enough…but to actually give the rapist custody of her daughter and order her to pay him child support beggars belief and must be challenged and overturned on appeal.
Marionville
Level 10
June 18, 2022
1
Apparently he's pretty tight with the local police. They're looking out for him.
@TheoryNumber3 Even accounting for that…the courts and social services must be in on it too if she’s been ordered to pay child support. The story doesn’t seem believable…unless there’s something else we aren’t party to.
Louisiana is in the very deep south. Rapists frequently go unprosecuted there and I've heard of more than one case like this one.
@Theresa_N I’m really shocked! Is rape of a minor not a Federal crime…regardless of which State it happened in?
@Marionville the minor was hanging out in a bar, which is itself illegal, no doubt looking older.......
@AnneWimsey Perhaps…but it’s still pretty strange to give him custody of a teenager he’d not even been aware he’d fathered. She must be a stranger to him, who’s to say he doesn’t want to abuse her? Social services would never allow him custody over here in the U.K…even apart from the rape charges.
@TheoryNumber3 Or the local judge...
@snytiger6 Yeah that too! It certainly looks like that judge needs to brush up on the constitution and the law..
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