Frightening story. Although we must protect youngsters from adult sexual predators, there has to be some balance. The 12-year-old girl should have had her accusation better verified by the police before they moved on Mr. Lanigan. The concept that if a child (especially at that age) makes an allegation of sexual abuse by an adult, especially a teacher, it has to be taken at face value with scant investigation is absurd and can lead to this kind of tragedy for an innocent man. Like the jurors that quickly acquitted him, I too hope this man is someday able to ‘get his life back’. Even if he does, it will never be the same. All because some pouting 12-year-old girl decided to ‘make him pay’ for ‘speaking harshly’ to her. Insane - and very, very wrong.
No. The standard response is assume the girl is telling the absolute truth, remove the teacher, based on the accusation slone,from school, sometimes in handcuffs, put the teacher on administrative leave, interview hundreds of students so the false accusations can be spread around the whole school, and, if he does not totally lose his job, put a nasty letter in his file that presents the unfounded accusation as if it were truth.