A Minor Inconvenience
In a continuing effort to stall the tide that has turned against the Duke Hoax, Bob Ashley’s Herald Sun turns to the accuser’s father to dissuade readers from believing Kim Roberts’ statements on the upcoming edition of ‘60 Minutes.’
While we realize the drama surrounding the Hoax must be terribly difficult for the accuser's father to adjust to, his own words printed in the Herald Sun help to highlight the perpetual bias with which the Snooze Room approaches all things Nifong. In the Herald Sun, the father is quoted as saying:
"She [Roberts] was crying. She said she hates that she left her there by herself. She apologized to us for letting her there by herself," he said. "She said if she would have known what was going to happen, she would have stayed with her."
Considering that the statements of Kim Roberts on ‘60 Minutes’ indicate that she disputes the accuser’s claim that alleged rape began after Kim and the accuser were pulled apart by six men, it is telling that the Herald Sun chooses to cite a reference to the father’s disbelief, which is based on a theory of the hoax that is itself contradictory to the statement the accuser gave to police.
In her written statement to police, as described by Joseph Neff, the accuser details the initiation of the alleged assault as having involved her being torn from a crying, clinging Kim Roberts by a total of six men. Clearly, neither Ms. Roberts, nor the accuser's father, were aware that the accusation included this description. By omitting this detail from its article, the Snooze Room ensures that readers who are not otherwise informed will also remain unaware.
The father's statement indicates that his understanding, to this day, is that the alleged assault occurred in a manner other than what his daughter detailed in writing to the police. By acknowledging, that Ms. Roberts apologized for “letting her there by herself,” he indicates that he was as unaware as Ms. Roberts was of the accusation that six men pulled the two women apart. While it is understandable that his daughter might have not told him the details of her allegations, it is unconscionable that the Herald Sun presents this argument in its effort to discredit Ms. Roberts.
It is undeniable that Ms. Roberts’ statements to the media, and apparently to the accuser's family, indicate that Kim thinks, or thought, that there is or was a possibility a rape may have occurred. There is no justification, nor any excuse, if Kim is shading the truth to possibly advance her opportunities. However, Kim’s descriptions of the night in question have not included anything resembling the accuser’s claims that six men pulled the two women apart before the alleged attack. For the Herald Sun, to use statements from the father that challenge Kim’s veracity, while ignoring that the father is not aware of the details of the allegations made by his daughter, is not only sloppy journalism but also sloppy propaganda.
To make the article more bizarre, the Herald Sun adds this quote from the father:
"That girl that was with her, she keeps changing her story," the father said of Kim Roberts Pittman, the dance partner of the accuser. "She's not a credible person to me."
While the accuser has changed her story countless times, the Herald Sun asks its readers to question the credibility of Ms. Roberts for changing her story from, “Crock” to the effect of “If it happened, it was when I was outside and she was inside,” to “Nope, six men did not pull us apart.”
While we agree that Ms. Roberts has left open the possibility, in her prior media statements, that something might have happened at the party in her opinion, she has never once indicated that she was with the accuser when the alleged assault began.
Yesterday, Ashley’s Snooze Room attempted to prop up Nifong’s Hoax with statements from City Manager Patrick Baker that accused Ms. Roberts of changing the story she gave police. Clearly, she did not. Today, Ashley’s hacks accuse Ms. Roberts of contradicting the statements she made to the accuser's family. Again, she did not. In her interview with Himan, in her written statement to the police, in her numerous media statements, and in her “60 Minutes” interview, Kim NEVER indicated that she witnessed the initiation of the alleged attack, or its immediate aftermath.
Again, the Herald Sun has demonstrated that the truth is but a minor inconvenience.
11 comments:
A poster at Free republic found the fathers quotes from HIS different versions.
The father of the woman who has accused members of the Duke lacrosse team of sexually assaulting her said he didn't find out that his daughter was the reported victim - and that she is an exotic dancer - until a reporter visited his house.
The retired trucker who lives in Durham said he saw his daughter the day after the reported attack, but she didn't say anything was wrong. She even left her car at the house for several days because he said she didn't want to drive it.
Her father, a quiet man who tinkers on cars as a hobby, said he saw news reports about the attack.
"I didn't know it was my daughter," he said. The Charlotte Observer generally does not name victims of sexual assault, so his name is being withheld to protect the identity of his daughter.
(snip)
Last week, a reporter stopped by the reported victim's house looking for her, the woman's father said, but he said he didn't know what was going on. He called his daughter and she said the district attorney told her not talk to anyone.
"(She) didn't tell us anything about it," he said.
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/425344.html
The father said Tuesday that early on the morning of March 14, he went to Duke Hospital with his son and waited more than two hours to see his daughter. Doctors wouldn't say why she was there, he said.
The father went home and waited for word from his daughter. Later that morning, she came to her parents' house with her boyfriend.
"After she came home, that's when I knew she had been beaten up," her father said.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/17/ng.01.html
GRACE: Have you talked to her about the incident since that day?
TRAVIS: Yes, I have.
GRACE: What is she saying?
TRAVIS: Well, she didn`t go through a lot of it. She didn`t tell me a lot of the details, but she did tell me that three boys had raped her. And I asked her where was it at, where did it happen at? And she said at that house. And then I felt horrible, because that was the same place that she asked me how to get to.
GRACE: Sir, I just -- I hate what you are going through right now. (DRAMA QUEEN ALERT!) When you spoke to her afterwards, did she talk to you about having to go through the whole examination, and talking to police, and so forth?
TRAVIS: Yes, she mentioned something about where she said she had -- the next day, she had to go to see or identify the people, I think it was, the way she put it.
And yet the father claims he doesn't trust Kim Roberts because she changed her story?
LOL.
The picture that I see coming into focus regarding Kim R. is that, after her initial, spontaneous, and honest statement to police that the rape claim was a crock, she noticed that the story was going nationwide because of the Nifong-Duke88-MSMedia Axis of Evil. The possibility of having a valuable story to sell dawned on her brightly. But for her story to be of interest, the story as a whole needed to go big and stay big. So she breathed oxygen on it by bending her version as far as she dared in the direction of "They might be guilty" without directly contradicting the true version she had so rashly given to the police.
In other words, pressure from Nifong might not have ever been the main factor. Nifong seems to have gone to great lengths to avoid gathering evidence in this case because he knew that anything he found out would hurt his goals and would in any event have to be shared with the defense -and the public. So he might never have even talked to Kim about much of anything. The bail reduction might have been just an unspoken reminder of his leverage over her.
But Kim, being not a dummy, realized that the story, while staying big, had also changed decisively in ways that made her version more or less worthless if she was too tightly paired with her psycho (and unbelievable) fellow dancer.
Indeed, there will be books written about this and lots of people will want to read about this saga of horrible suffering by the innocent, steadfastness in the face of cruel lies, and the final victory of truth over a gang of reptilian, white-trash lunatics.
But NO ONE, now, wants to belong to that gang, even by loose association.
Its 'good press' to interview and quote the AV's father. He seems like a nice man also.
However, this is the same guy who DID NOT KNOW that his daughter was a stripper - even though she came/left his house on an apparent regular basis, and at some odd hours, escorted by a driver.
Did the dad think his single-mom daughter working toward her Criminal Justice degree (sweet irony) at NCCU was an Investment Banker or Hollywood Agent as a part time job ?
As nice a man as he appears, and I feel for his public huniliation in this matter - he has ZERO credibility. Why would any serious journalist give him time of day - oh, forgot, in order to appeal to emotions instead of truth or fact.
HS's days are numbered - I trust.
Is Crystals' father delusional? Where does he come off commenting to the HS that he saw his daughter with bruises all over when released from the hosptial? Doesn't he realize she was phtographed? Give me a break.
I understand you want to support your child,but let's differentiate fantasy from facts!
Let's get real... does he expect everyone to be an "honor" student like his daughter?
it is typical of the likes of people on this board that now that kim has changed her tune she is suddenly so credible. right. just a few days ago you all were calling both her and the accuser lying human trash.
the accuser's father has a right to say what he wants to. you all are stupid to think that this case is going to close the durham newspaper. it is not. that is just another sign of the inflated importance of the case in your minds. i hate to break it down to you but i have to tell you all the truth. no one is going to tear up this whole town because of some drunken yankee louts who may or may not have raped and beaten a local girl so all your wishful thinking about the herald going out of business, the destruction of the entire police force and the mayor and patrick baker are just revenge fantasies. the only person likely to get some problems is nifong and even that is not as assured as you think it is.
What makes you think the accused boys were drunk?
...a family of liars...
Perhaps some of you need to read Kim’s police statement. She didn’t “change her tune” from her police statement to her “60 Minutes” interview. In fact, she claimed to Himan that rape accusations were “crock.” And from what I heard, what she told Bradley is consistent with her report to the police. Even if her story varied (and it did in a number of details) when she was giving media interviews, I doubt it even came close to approaching all the different stories told by the accuser. So, if Kim is not credible because she is not consistent, what exactly does it make the accuser?
"may not have raped...only person likely to get some problems is nifong"
Even the grammatically challenged troll has now abandoned Nifong...when even the racist hate mongers have given up on him, how much longer can the hoax endure...
To 11:07pm: Hmmm... you sound scared. Could you possibly be a member of the Duke 88 or even Brodhead himself? I wonder what the Board at Duke will do when their coffers run dry. No more high salaries for bigot, racist professors who teach the young men and women at Duke their tainted views of the world. You protest too much.
Post a Comment