You have a wonderful daughter. She is 8 years old and has always been a happy outgoing child. But a while ago something terrible happened, she was raped. You are quite sure that the person who raped her is your neighbor. Your daughter is so traumatized she has stopped speaking, but she in other ways been able to convince you that he is the one.
Unfortunately not enough evidence can be found to convict him.You try to put your life back together. You move to another house and try to help your daughter in any way you can, but it is clear that the experience has ruined her life and that of your family.One evening you have taken your wife out to dinner at a restaurant when you spot your former neighbor at another table. He is eating alone and looks unhappy. You quickly finish eating and leave.
The next day you find out that your former neighbors wife has been murdered. Enough evidence to convict him of the murder is soon found, and at first you are very happy, finally his will get what he deserves.But then you remember that you saw him in the restaurant at the time of the murder. you know he did not murder his wife. Maybe he paid someone else to do it…
You remember that the police said that it had been made it look like a burglary, maybe it was…You sit down to think. If you keep quiet he will be convicted for the murder, and the real murderer will go free If you give him an alibi, he will go free, but you can’t be sure the real murderer will be found, and it is possible that the evil bastard paid someone to do it.
Using this information, what would you do?
Although it may not seem the most moral course of action, I would not provide an alibi for the neighbor. If I truly believed that he raped my 8 year old daughter, not only does he not deserve his freedom, but allowing him to remain free endangers others around him. So while he may not deserve to go to prison for murdering his wife, he certainly deserves to go to prison, and not providing an alibi simply provides a means to that end.
ReplyDeleteIf I were in this situation, I would keep quite. For one, in my mind I am convinced that this man raped my daughter, even if he didn’t, somewhere in the back of my mind I will always think that he did. Another reason I wouldn’t say anything is because I don’t know for sure that he didn’t do it. Like you said, he could have paid someone else to do it. Unfortunately, with my past with this guy, for all I care he can defend himself. Due to the fact that this is not the first questionable situation he has been in, I find it hard to believe that he is not guilty of one.
ReplyDeleteI was reading the blog when I came upon this post. Though I know the semester is over, I wanted to introduce an opposing statement.
ReplyDeleteI believe I would provide an alibi.
I'm aware that this guy has likely led an immoral life so far. I'm also aware that he might have hired someone else to kill his wife.
However, I don't have proof of that. And knowing that he might have been innocent would constantly be on my mind. If I allowed him to get imprisoned under wrong terms, it would be my fault. Allowing this to happen would be acting in a immoral way to gain my own self-righteous vengeance.
The important term here, of course, is self-righteous. I wouldn't be doing this for my daughter. Yes, he hurt my child. But, more importantly - if there was no evidence to tie him to the rape, it means I didn't notice in time. This means that she dealt with that pain while I lived in blissful ignorance.
Of course, there might be other reasons there is no DNA evidence. He might have been meticulous in his assault, and was very intelligent in his method of protection.
However, even assuming this point, I'm aware that this vengeance would be for myself. Not for her.
If she was unable to testify against him, there's something restraining her. To see him go to jail would arise conflicting emotions in her. However, the second she found out that his imprisonment is based on a lie, she would never look at me the same.
I would have already failed her once. I would not be able to do it again.