According to the Associated Press report, "Biurny Peguero, 27, pleaded guilty in December to perjury, admitting she made up the September 2005 incident that unjustly put construction worker William McCaffrey in jail and prison for nearly four years. A judge overturned his rape conviction in December, with new DNA evidence also playing a role. 'I question myself every day as to how I could have done this,' Peguero told a Manhattan state court judge.
Peguero originally said McCaffrey was the ringleader among three men who raped her at knifepoint after luring her into their car. She met them after a night out at a Manhattan nightclub with female friends."
This was a particularly strange case because there was no reason for the accusation, and the consequence to Mr. McCaffery was awful.
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Every time someone makes a false accusation like this, it hurts not only the victim--the guy who didn't do it, and has to suffer terrible consequences--but all the victims of real rape, who will be doubted and treated with the contempt due to these liars. I hate these stories. I imagine the only reason behind this behavior is a desire for attention. But if Dante's Inferno were written today, there would be a special circle in hell for false accusers of rape. I once read a science fiction story about a planet that punished rapists with castration and false accusers with death. I guess I'm not advocating anything that extreme, but when I read stuff like this it seems pretty alluring as a solution.
ReplyDeleteTerrific comment, GM--how shattering it must be to experience whtat this construction worker experienced. The SciFi story is pretty dead on as it relates to the question of what is justice in the sense of balancing the scales. But the Taliban like losses might be a little much. How would one, truly, ever determine a false allegation? I've heard people recant when I suspected the recantation was false; particularly when the family members are coming to the defense of an older father figure, and the accuser is a child.
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