The father of a 7-year old girl who police say was gang raped is defending three of the men who were arrested for the crime. He claims that the three men tried to help his daughter leave the apartment, where she was allegedly attacked. The father also said that they were not allowed to help when other men held them at gun point.
The shocking story of the 7-year-old who was gang raped in a New Jersey housing project has turned the nation's attention to the state of public housing. The girl was allegedly being pimped out by her 15-year-old sister and then raped by as many as seven men and boys at a party that took place on March 28th.
Police arrested 20-year-old Gregory Leary (pictured above) and held him on $500,000 dollars bail. He is one of the men being defended by the little girl's father. Leary's attorney argued that the crime never happened. He says that the girl was pressured in to making up the story.
"She was not raped, was not gang raped," Robin Lord, attorney for suspect Gregory Leary, said. "I'm 100 percent certain that the 7-year-old was not sexually assaulted. The allegations will not be substantiated by any forensic evidence."
"My son didn't rape anyone," Leary's mother, Robin David, told the media. "My son is a loving child and could never hurt anyone. I feel terrible about my child and anyone else's who is involved in this."
Police say that the girl's 15-year-old stepsister was paid to have sex at the party, who then paid the younger sister money to let the older men touch her. Police say that hospital treatment has revealed DNA evidence that a crime was committed. The five men and boys charged with the crime are aged 20, 19, 13, 14 and 17. Police are expected to make additional arrests in the case.
I appeared on CNN with Judge Glenda Hatchett to discuss this case, and it broke my heart. I happened to be traveling through New Jersey at the time of the call, so it was ironic that I happened to be so close to where this atrocity allegedly took place. I also thought about a case just a month ago about a New Jersey man who killed his own baby daughter by kidnapping her and throwing her in to the river. While these cases are extremely rare, there are millions of abused and neglected children all across America, and all of them need our help.
It breaks my heart when our children are not protected. Perhaps we should all realize that children need love and protection, even when they are not our own. If you don't have children, that doesn't mean you can't go to PTA meetings to advocate for children who have no one in the world who cares enough to help them. They say that it takes a village to raise a child, and in this case, the village failed this little girl miserably. We simply cannot allow this to happen.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition
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