I'm saddened to read of a father who shot dead his own son after the boy confessed to sexually molesting his three-year-old sister.
Jamar Pinkney allegedly beat up 15-year-old Jamar Jr then marched him to wasteland, where he forced him to strip and kneel.
The teenager's mother, Lazette Cherry, told how he begged, 'No, Daddy! No' before Jamar Sr shot his son once in the head.
Cherry told reporters that Pinkney turned up at her home in Highland Park, Michigan, with a gun after she told him of his son's confession.
'I called and told his father this isn't something you sweep under the rug,' Cherry said.
'He started beating him right here,' Cherry added. 'I said, "No, please stop!"
But the father marched Jamar, a pupil at King High School, outside.
'He got on his knees and begged, ‘No, Daddy! No!’ and he pulled the trigger,' Cherry said. 'There wasn’t nothing that my son wouldn’t do for his father.
'He loved his father so much.'
Pinkney has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, three counts of felonious assault and one count of felony firearm.
He stood stoically in a Highland Park courtroom as Judge Brigette Officer ordered him back to jail without bail.
. . .
If something were to happen that would cause a reasonable person to lose control of himself, that is something the prosecution would have to take into account.'
Highland Park police investigators said Pinkney had reacted with rage when he attacked his son.
Cherry said the three-year-old's mother took the girl to a hospital to be examined. She said her son claimed that he didn't rape the little girl and kept his clothes on.
The exam showed no physical evidence of sexual trauma, Cherry said.
'He told because he knew it wasn't right,' she said.
There's more at the link.
It's a horrible situation all round. What the boy admitted to doing was inexcusable and demanded severe punishment, sure enough . . . but for a father to execute his own son for such an admission? I can understand the father's anger, but even so, that's adding evil to evil.
All I can say is, if I were in the father's shoes, I don't know what I'd do. What would you do? Are there any easy answers in such a tragic situation?
Peter
Merrimee outlined such a solution in "Mateo Falcone". It's an old expedient.
ReplyDeleteDads gotta pay the price under the law for what he did but I'm not going to condemn the man for what he did. The sick little turd molested a three year old, he won't do that again.Problem solved.
ReplyDeleteI know I'll probably be in the minority, but I think the father acted correctly. An evil person is dead. And evil is the only way to describe a person who has molested a child. Yes, it was the man's own son, but people have to take responsibility for their minor children, and this man's son was evil. Yes, he reacted with rage, but frankly the fact that all such crimes aren't reacted against with rage is why we have repeat offenders who go on molest and commit other sex crimes again and again.
ReplyDeleteJury nullification in the father's trial is the only way the legal system can correctly function at this point.
A man shoots his own dog.
ReplyDeleteWhat would I have done?
ReplyDeleteCalled the police and turned the situation over to the criminal justice system.
Here we see the difference between law and justice.
ReplyDeleteThe son put the father in an awful position, and I think the son got what he deserved.
Jim
For an actual pedophile, I think this would have been justice, maybe even a kindness. In this case, I... I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteThe kid came forward, on his own, to report what he did, knowing that it was wrong, and knowing that it would get him in the worst kind of trouble.
If he'd raped the girl, or had hidden his crime, maybe I'd feel more strongly that this is a cut and dried issue.
But with the autopsy reports saying that the girl showed no signs of sexual abuse, it seems like maybe the boy did some seriously bad touching, then came forward and admitted his crime.
If he felt guilty enough to come forward on his own, rather than pretending it never happened, maybe there was hope for him.
I think evil people, or sick little turds, are the ones who DON'T feel guilt, don't come forward, don't admit what they've done, or won't admit that it's wrong.
For me, this is shades of grey.
Hindsight is always 20-20. The boy was fifteen years old, and has already molested a three-year-old. He desperately needed his head ventilated.
ReplyDeleteI would put down any animal that violated my little girl; I've just never played that scenario out in my head with the animal being my son (sidenote - I have no sons and one daughter).
I can't say I would, but I sure can't guarantee I wouldn't...