A Disturbing Problem

<a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/01/africa/web.1201madagascar.php?page=1" >Sex abuse of girls is stubborn scourge in Africa</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>Thirty miles outside this down-at-the-heels seaside town, Justin Betombo tends his vanilla plants and cheers the local soccer team as if he had not a care in the world. And in fact, what was once his greatest worry has been almost magically lifted from his shoulders.<br />n<br />nIn the local prosecutor's office, a file filled with accusations that he had sodomized his 9-year-old niece has vanished.<br />n<br />nMr. Betombo was arrested in 2003 after the girl, Kenia, said he had savagely assaulted her. The police obtained his confession, which he later recanted, and a doctor's certificate that Kenia had been sexually violated, rendering her incontinent and anorexic. Twice they sent the case file to the prosecutor.<br />n<br />nThere matters ended. Mr. Betombo attended one hearing in the prosecutor's office, but Kenia's parents say they were not told about it. The records are nowhere to be found. And Mr. Betombo walked away a free man. Kenia's parents, distressed by what they saw as a travesty of justice, asked that her name be published, hoping that her case would set an example.</blockquote><br />n<br />nIt's a hard story to read that's for sure. What's the answer? Wish I had one. Does anybody out there have any answers? I don't see how throwing money at the problem will help. What really struck me was the parts about having to pay the cops to get them to investigate the situation. How can that attitude be changed?<br />n<br />n<strong>A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy? Albert Einstein</strong>