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October 21, 2013

Daisy Coleman Speaks Out on Maryville Rape Case: "I Refuse to Be a Victim of Cruelty Any Longer" 
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The teenage girl whose rape in Maryville, Missouri, sparked a nationwide
outcry after the charges were dropped against her accused rapist —
a well-connected high-school football player — has written about
the experience online. Daisy Coleman was 14 when she says she was raped
by Matthew Barnett at a gathering of high-school athletes. In a post on
the blog xo Jane, Daisy describes how, on that night in 2012, she was
told to drink from a tall shot glass. "Then it was like I fell into a
dark abyss," Daisy writes. "That's all I could ever remember from that
night." Daisy then describes how she was dropped in the snow outside her
house in 22-degree weather, where her mother found her in the morning.
She describes the outcome of the rape kit, when doctors "verified that
our nightmares were real." And she recalls how after reporting the rape
she was "suspended from the cheerleading squad and people told me that I
was 'asking for it' and would 'get what was coming.'" Online, people
urged her to kill herself, which she tried to do twice. Daisy continues,
"I also refuse to be a victim of cruelty any longer. This is why I am
saying my name. This is why I am not shutting up." Daisy's case went
viral after an article in the Kansas City Star and a video by the hacker
group Anonymous. Last week the prosecutor who dropped the charges said
he was asking for a court-appointed special prosecutor to review the
case. Daisy called that announcement "a victory, not just for me, but
for every girl."

 

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