help me help my son

[tammy6923]

What is the name of your state?Massachusetts

My (now ex) boyfriends ex wife accused my seven year old of sexually assaulting their daughter. My son was read his rights and questioned by a detective. After speaking to the little girl the police determined that nothing happened between the children. They realized this woman made these allegations to better her custody battle. I am working the police and da to determine if she can be charged with filing a false police report. And a 51A has been filed with the deaprtment of social services against her. Recently she went and filed a motion in probate court stating that the police advised her to do so prohibing my son from being around her children. The detective wrote a statement that he found nothing occured between the children and he made no such statement. Do I have a defamation case against this woman. My son has suffered, my realtionship has suffered and things have been really hard lately.

 

[seniorjudge]

Do I have a defamation case against this woman.

What did the woman say about you that you think was defamatory?

I'd sure stay far away from her!

 

[tammy6923]

Do you think it is defamatory to say that a 7 year old sexually assaulted someone?

 

[seniorjudge]

You may have a malicious prosecution suit. The burden of proof in such cases is extremely high. You will probably have to prove that she knew the allegations were totally false and that she intentionally caused you harm by filing a false police report.

Talk to a lawyer in your locality.

 

[casa]

I am not sure about Mass. laws, but in my state- It's procedure to contact Children's Services if complaints like these are made, whether or not the officer who responded 'believes' they happened or not.

There is a loophole in my state which makes it very hard to prosecute for "false reports"...and that is if the person who made the report "believed" it could be true at the time.

In terms of your child, you can make this an opportunity to explain that law enforcement helps protect children and that is why it was their duty to talk to him. That you believe he is innocent but it was just the officer's job to check and make sure. Relating that this keeps him and other children safe, so that he does not feel so much shame behind it.

 

[tammy6923]

Its not that I just believe my child is innocent I know he is...she stated this happened over a weekend when my son was in another state with family. I had no problem with the detective questioning my son because as soon as he did he found that this woman was using my child to better her custody battle. A report was made against her with the department of social services. It has made me so frustrated that there are people out there that use children as leverage in adult situations. She has called my son a child molester and sexual predator. There is something wrong with the system if I can not do anything to stop her from doing this again.