Posted on 08/05/2009 3:03:49 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out
PHOENIX, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The waiver of rights to a lawyer or to stay silent is a central issue in the case of four Phoenix boys charged with rape, their spokesmen said Wednesday.
The boys, ages 9, 10, 13, and 14 were charged with raping an 8-year-old girl. The case has sparked a public outcry for the prosecution of the two older boys as adults, the Arizona Republic reported.
The newspaper said police and community activists dispute the children's abilities to understand or speak English. All the chidren are Liberian refugees.
Steven Tuopeh, 14, has already been charged as an adult and indicted on counts of kidnapping, sexual conduct with a minor and sexual assault
Great. More third worlders and their fun-loving, hardworking Amish values.
They did an adult act. Let them do adult time.
This isn’t the last time we will see these 4 names in a story about criminal acts.
They grow up in a society (at least the socio-economic class that has made it here as refugees) where virtually every adult has two or three other sex partners on the side whether they’re married or not (in Liberia around 60% of Liberian girls have had their first child by the age of 16; about 97%, by the age of 19). From their earliest age they are attending parties and watching people dance in the most lascivious fashion. Pre-teen girls bump and grind with each other like exotic dancers on poles. I may be judging from a limited perspective, but after about 5 years of knowing about a hundred Liberians in places as diverse as Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, I think it’s a more, rather than less, accurate description.
Oh, well then, by all means the boys' inability to speak English should let them off the hook. /s
Yes...as if people speaking languages other than English do not know what rape is......
Actually, the official language of Liberia is English. Ifn dos boys don’ speak English dey jus ignorant, dat’s all.
Ah, so it is. Well, hmmm, then the fact that they’re poor immigrants is reason enough to excuse any misbehavior. /s
Maybe they were brought here on basketball scholarships, which would excuse their behavior. (As opposed to Lacrosse scholarships, which would require a substantially different behavioral expectation).
If poor immigrants cannot be trusted to not rape, maim, and pillage, then they should not be allowed in the country.
I really hope they get what they deserve.
I know a few Liberians, there is a very real difference between those of American descent who speak English and those of the interior who don’t.
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