As a rape survivor I am very sympathetic to others who have been abused and degraded by this horrible crime. I know some of what they deal with, the nightmares, the trust issues, the doubts, the wagging fingers and my heart aches that we as a society have not yet found a way to stop this sort of violence against women. Just as horrible we live in a society that still judges and at some level blames the rape victim
When I heard of horrific acts and crimes related to the reported abuse and repeated sexual assault inflicted uponMegan Williams my heart went out to her. How could any one human being let alone six treat someone in this manner?
Six white suspects, male and female, were placed in police custody for allegedly torturing and attacking Megan Williams back in 2007. The woman’s abductors were said to have used racial slurs in their attacks that included stabbing, choking, rape, pulling out her hair, confinement to eat animal feces and other grotesque acts, according to media reports.
The Rev. Al Sharpton lashed out at state and federal officials for not speaking out against Williams’ ordeal.
“It’s a deafening silence,” Sharpton told The Logan Banner. “I guarantee you when we come in, it will make everyone respond. It shouldn’t have to take us to do it, but this is a national uproar among whites and blacks. I think that there’s shock and dismay that there has not been outrage expressed by our national leadership.”
Both Sen. Robert C. Byrd and Sen. Jay Rockefeller have condemned the attack.
You can read her transcript here.
Having once been the woman too afraid to close her eyes for fear her attacker may find her again and kill her this time her case brought back the nightmares that still plague me of my rape. I still bear the scars of the knife wounds which are a constant reminder that my life was on the line.
Seven white men and women were convicted in the case and are serving prison time. It seemed like the case was now over and everything was tied up in a short amount of time. I was happy for her that justice seemed to have played out, for me it never has because my rapist was allowed to plead out because he turned states evidence on another unrelated case.
Today there is an update on this case. Megan William's attorney says his client fabricated the story to get back at a boyfriend who had beaten her up. Potts (her attorney) said that Brewster's son, Bobby, was the boyfriend who had beaten Williams and that she had stabbed herself with a straight razor to help embellish the story of being tortured. As a matter of fact she admits that the only thing not self-inflicted were the bruises on her face,'
Williams told the newspaper that she was afraid of her mother, who knew some of the defendants.
Williams' mother, Carmen Williams, died in June. Potts said he did not know what role the mother might have had in fabricating the case.
The woman's lawyer, Byron Potts, said she no longer wants to live a lie. 'She told me the only thing not self-inflicted were the bruises on her face,' Potts said at a news conference in Columbus, Ohio.
Williams, 22, who now lives with a caregiver, was in the office with Potts but she did not appear before reporters.
In a January interview with The Call & Post, a black newspaper in Cleveland, Williams acknowledged she had been mistreated but said her mother made her embellish the story for exposure and financial gain.
Prosecutors in West Virginia have dismissed Williams' new claim, and lawyers for the defendants aren't discussing their plans.
Every time one woman uses a falese charge of rape against a man for revenge, it makes it harder for the next woman, fighting back to reclaim her life to be believed on the stand. I do not care about her race, her religion, or any such identifier. I care that she is a woman and she hurt us all with these action. Her words were meant to harm her boyfriend and his family but they cut into the hearts of many. I hope that she seeks out counseling because she is definitely in need of it.
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