We’ve all heard about false accusations of sexual criminality, incidents such as the 2006 Duke University rape frame-up case. They are a form of psychological molestation and can destroy a person’s life just as being physically molested can. Well, now such an accusation might have ended a man’s life.

The hapless victim, 63-year-old British citizen Bryan Davies, died of a massive heart attack last Friday after months of community harassment resulting from a false accusation of pedophilia. And what was the reason for the accusation?

Two girls leveled it after the man and his wife, Debbie Davies, 43, refused to allow a “sleepover” at their home or the girls to walk their dog.

The Daily Mail reports on the story, writing, “Mrs Davies said her husband had fought in vain to clear his name after two schoolgirls falsely accused him in [sic] indecently touching them in the summer.” And it didn’t help Mr. Davies that the police had dismissed the girls’ story after an investigation. It didn’t help when, reports the Mail, “Police in Accrington, Lancashire, even went as far as handing out leaflets to locals in the neighbourhood to officially state the allegations as ‘false and without any foundation whatsoever’.” No, despite this, the couple suffered continual harassment. Writes the Mail:

. . . a brick through the window, slashed car tyres and constant shouts of 'paedo' and 'pervert' every time they left the house increased the stress, Mrs Davies said.

. . . And the couple moved homes to another street in the town recently but malicious rumours spread and the hate-mob followed.

Mr Davies, originally from the Cardigan Bay area of Wales, had a brick thrown the window of his house last week.

Obviously, the Davies have suffered due to a lack of a sense of justice among the mob that persecuted them and, of course, due to the same lack in the deceitful accusers. Yet there is also a lack of a sense of justice exhibited by the authorities — and it is salt thrown into Mrs. Davies’ wounds. I speak of the fact that the police have decided not to charge the accusers, citing their age.

Unfortunately, regardless of age, letting females who falsely accuse men of sexual misconduct off the hook isn’t unusual. For instance, the stripper who falsely accused the Duke lacrosse players of rape, Crystal Magnum, wasn’t charged, either. Now, let’s think about this: The woman levels accusations of rape against three young fellows not long out of boyhood, creating a national frenzy, fomenting racial unrest and making the boys pariahs in their school and the press. She causes them and their families many months of hardship they will never forget. And she gets to walk away with an “oops”? She has written a book now, too, just so you know. Only in America.

I suppose our cavalier attitude toward such accusers is explainable. There was a time when women were more reluctant to come forward with stories involving sexual abuse; this, and the fact that people in general were more moral back then, made false accusations of rape less likely. But then something changed: Male sexual crimes came to be viewed not just as wicked (which they were considered before) but as politically incorrect, and men became so themselves. On the other hand, women came to be viewed as a victim group, and what I’ve dubbed the New Chivalry became operative. That is to say, the result was not equality but a definite legal favoritism toward the fairer sex. This seems to have bred an attitude that the imperative of protecting women and children justifies making men second-class citizens in courts of law. Better that ten innocent men suffer than that one guilty man escape, I suppose.

But explainable is not synonymous with justifiable. Rape and child molestation are horrible, heinous crimes and should be taken seriously. But, for this reason, accusations of same are also horrible and heinous and when false should be taken seriously as well. Remember that there are men who have spent years in prison based on such malicious falsehoods. Moreover, even when the victim avoids the hangman, as former Secretary of Labor Ray Donovan said after being acquitted of highly publicized corruption charges in 1987, “Where do I go to get my reputation back?” Understand that, to this day, there are those who are suspicious of the Duke lacrosse players. And this video about four Hofstra University students who were falsely accused of rape includes commentary by those who have doubts about their innocence. Then there is the gripping testimonial of Professor Michael Patterson, who was falsely accused of rape in 1991 and had to endure pariah status and damage to his career.

After an accusation of rape and, especially, child molestation, a man’s life will never be the same again. It is just human nature: People will have their doubts and certain elements of the mob will relish having a whipping boy.

While this is often unavoidable, the authorities only exacerbate the problem by refusing to name and prosecute the victimizers. And the case of Bryan Davies is illustrative because it’s typical. As the accused, his name and face were associated with the story, placing him in the pillory of public scorn. If his accusers had been charged and named, there would have been a greater chance that they could have replaced him in that unenviable position (and the mob would have been far kinder to them). But with Davies front and center and the guilty remaining in the shadows, on whom was the mob’s focus going to be? People only hate that which is real to them. And the result was the death of Davies’ reputation — followed by that of the man himself.  

Of course, there are those, such as feminists, who don’t like the idea of charging and naming false accusers. They may claim that any such action would discourage sex-crime victims from coming forward and undermine the battle against sex crimes. But they have it exactly backwards. Allowing sex-crime accusations to be tossed around loosely undermines the accusations themselves.

Just as there are bad men who abuse women, there are bad women who abuse men through manipulation of the legal system. And turning a blind eye to it is just as bad as being cavalier about rape itself. It’s simply not something good people do.    

Selwyn Duke is a columnist and public speaker whose work has been published widely online and in print, on both the local and national levels. He has been featured on the Rush Limbaugh Show, at WorldNetDaily.com, in American Conservative magazine, is a contributor to AmericanThinker.com and appears regularly as a guest on the award-winning, nationally-syndicated Michael Savage Show. Visit his Website.

 

 

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (13)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

For Freedom... said:

	... What does "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" do you not understand?
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 11, 2009
Votes: +5

DDW said:

	Perhaps we should Bring back and apply that part of the Mosaic law which punished false accusers with the same punishment that the crime they falsely acused someone of demanded. I'm betting the false accusers would disappear back into the woodwork in very short order. But that would be too much like justice for this "enlightened" "modern" day and age, ha?
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 11, 2009
Votes: +6

Eddington said:

	Flash: 63 year-old man, with 43 year-old wife has a heart attack. Yep, must have been the charges of pedophilia. And now how again is this related to re-establishing our Constitution and ending our wars overeas?
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 12, 2009
Votes: -5

DDW said:

	Eddington It has to do with truth which is what the JBS is based on (unlike the "liberal" "unbiased" media).
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 12, 2009
Votes: +5

Paladin said:

Eddington, are you serious? Yes, I agree with you, Eddy. Let's just talk about the same 2 things 24/7/365. Then you and the 3 other people who'll be reading can have a good time in your little bubble while the world spins around you. Eddy, question: you do realize that that thing called morality is kinda important, right? I mean, do you really think that immoral people will follow the Constitution or be able to judge what is a just war?

report abuse vote down vote up

December 12, 2009
Votes: +3

Still Free said:

This isn't the first time! Remember Richard Jewel? He was the security guard who was falsely accused of the Olympic bombing in Atlanta. The man lost his job, couldn't get hired anywhere, was forced to move in with his mother, and finally had to move away. Ultimately, Mr. Jewel did have his day in court and won a large settlement. However, he died at age 44. Mr. Jewel was able to clear his name before he died. And Mr. Eddington, what are you suggesting by pointing out the age difference between Mr. Davies and his wife? Surely your mind is not in the gutter, is it? So please tell us how the age differnce you pointed out "related to re-establishing our Constitution and ending our wars overeas[sic]?" We will try to be open-minded about any theory you may put forth.

report abuse vote down vote up

December 13, 2009
Votes: +1

Eddington said:

Titillating News vs. Activism I can read general news in the freedom movement at a very fine website called thenewamerican.com.*** I've always assumed The John Birch Society was an action oriented organization. I see little to no highlighting of such action on this site. Certainly not on the homepage. Instead I see opportunistic news articles with plenty of key words to drive up hit counts on what is otherwise a lowly ranked site compared to others in the Freedom movement like Antiwar.com and Mises.org. (Not that a low ranking for an action oriented site would be bad against a "news" site.) Where are the articles directly related to the action campaigns of the JBS? Where are the stories on what members are doing around the country so I can be inspired to join in? How do I contact the major selling point of The John Birch Society which is its professional field staff around the country? I can't wait to know the position of The John Birch Society on Tiger Woods and how it affects my freedom in the face of government that grows more and more tyrannical every day. ***BTW: Try to get to the John Birch Society website from thenewamerican.com.

report abuse vote down vote up

December 14, 2009
Votes: -3

Eddington said:

	BTW Everyone concerned about the state of morality in our society should take a look at the right hand side column of the Globe and Mail for the story Mr. Duke used as his source as noted at the beginning of his article.
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 14, 2009
Votes: -2

Eddington said:

Exclusive Story Here is the original "exclusive story" done locally then picked up by all the larger news outlets like the tabloid Mirror that Mr. Duke apparently favors. Sounds like the British Health care system did its part to kill this poor soul as well. In light of our fight against the further takeover of health care in our country by Big Govt, Big Pharma, and Big Insurance, this would have been a way to tie in the titillating headline in with one of our actual action campaigns.

report abuse vote down vote up

December 14, 2009
Votes: -2

Lal Wynstrom said:

The JBS mission, rightly understood The question of how this matter ties in with the overall JBS mission is very simple, once the whole notion of the Society's overall purpose is rightly understood. Robert Welch created the organization not simply for the purposes of exposing, routing, and defeating the New World Order, but of creating a better world and promoting truth and basic civil morality. Indeed the latter is the higher and more ultimate goal of the Society. Things which destroy those foundations are a treat to peace and human community, the NWO being simply one of these. In such vein the false accusations against any man by his neighbors, peers, etc., is destructive to the very principle of peace, civic morality, and human community and is thus rightly exposed and brought to attention here on the JBS website.

report abuse vote down vote up

December 14, 2009
Votes: +1

Lal Wynstrom said:

	The JBS mission, rightly understood... minor correction And of course, I meant threat, not treat, in the following line: "Things which destroy those foundations are a t[h]reat to peace and human community, the NWO being simply one of these."
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 14, 2009
Votes: +0

Eddington said:

The Truth I agree that bearing false witness is a sin and should be punished, but I fail to see how this story out of England is related to the immediate and long term objectives of The John Birch Society. Note: I have no problem with this story being posted at thenewamerican.com. That would fit the vision of what Mr. Welch saw as the mission of American Opinion, now the New American. I fully support the concept that creating a better world and promoting truth is the higher and more ultimate goal of the Society. In this case, there are two truths: 1) We are relying on details as presented by the man's wife who drove him to the hospital, and when found by staff where he was left waiting in the car outside he was already dead. As a skeptic, I do not rank the wife's story any more credible than the young accusers who were discredited. 2) This is a gosh ain't it awful story. There is no direction on what specific positive action we should take to make things better. This story has no value for those who seek to be pullers at the oars. It does not belong on the homepage of an action organization.

report abuse vote down vote up

December 14, 2009
Votes: -1

Interesting said:

Someone is not paying attention If you read this site everyday, you'll soon see that it consistently discusses matters of great importance for members. By reading this site, I've been able to take a more informed stance on issues like health care reform, the federal reserve, the UN and its attempts to shackle the world through climate change fearmongering and more. There is a constant drumbeat of stories here on those and similar related topics. That's all good, and there is a place here also for Mr. Duke's writings on social conservatism. For 50 years JBS has been at the forefront of discussing and analyzing changes in our culture that present dangers to our constitutional system. In fact, this may be the more important task JBS has as opposed to the nuts and bolts of daily action. After all, wasn't it Ben Franklin who once said something like the Constitution is suited only for a moral and ethical people? If it wasn't Franklin, it was one of the other Founding Fathers. And, in any case, that sentiment was certainly present in their thinking during that. So please, by all means, JBS should continue doing what it is doing. And one other thing, if they do a good job attracting traffic with keywords or whatever, then so much the better. More Americans, and others around the world need to read this site!

report abuse vote down vote up

December 16, 2009
Votes: +2