rapeculturerealities:

INVESTIGATIVE UNIT: Rape victim ordered to pay her abuser child support

INVESTIGATIVE UNIT: Rape victim ordered to pay her abuser child support

INVESTIGATIVE UNIT: Rape victim ordered to pay her abuser child support

WBRZ

Abelseth met John Barnes in the City of Hammond back in 2005. She says he offered to take her home after a night out at a local restaurant with friends.

“Instead of bringing me home, he brought me to his house,” Abelseth recalled. “Once inside, he raped me on his living room couch.”

Abelseth did not know Barnes before that night, but came away from it pregnant.

“Everyone assumed it [the pregnancy] was from a boyfriend, and I let them believe that,” Abelseth recalled.

Abelseth had a healthy baby girl, and everything was fine until John Barnes learned sometime in 2011 that he might have a daughter.

“When my daughter was five years old, he found out about her, and once he found out about her, he pursued custody and wanted to take her away from me,” Abelseth said. “They granted him 50/50 custody despite the fact that [the child] was caused by rape.”