This is a bit long but if you have time you can read it.

Excerpt
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For Jewel Mitchell, it was the worst Christmas of her life, the pain so raw she secluded herself in her bedroom to shield her two young daughters.

It was 1996, and the man she was supposed to marry - the man her girls idolized - had already been gone two years. But this Christmas, he was supposed to come home and pick up where they had left off:

Walking Latoni and Latoya to school. Playing Chutes and Ladders with them on Friday nights. Taking their mother on dates to the lakefront to watch the waves of Lake Michigan dance.

But Jewel's fiancé wasn't returning to their home on Chicago's South Side. Five days earlier, Dean Cage, had been sentenced to 40 years in prison for an aggravated sexual assault he said he didn't commit. Jewel was his alibi. At the time of the attack, she said, he was asleep next to her.

The day they'd planned to marry had come and gone with Dean in the Cook County Jail, unable to afford bond set at half a million dollars. When his trial date finally arrived -- just two months before this miserable Christmas -- Jewel listened to a young girl describe the man who brutally attacked her as she walked to her bus stop on a dark November morning. She was just 15.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/26/chicago.love.innocence.1/index.html

Awwww! Very sad. . .

very sad indeed

@The seeker, you made some enquiry about the disfigured teenager and i replied you, you can check the thread. Thanks

So touching .

really sad

Tears of Joy and gratitude to God came to my eyes as I read this story. I had a similar experience and it took God to scatter the plans of the enemy against my life.

I had been a sojourner for about 16 months and I was happily looking forward to the end of my program in a few months' time. It was a Friday evening and I was on my way to a mall to buy a heating pad for my aching back. I met my neighbour as I stepped into the parking area and she requested that I come back and see some artworks she intends to showcase in the next residents’ night. I have seen her a couple of times and I know she works at the leasing office but we never really exchanged more than few pleasantries. I went to see the artwork and asked me where I was headed. I told her, and asked if she wanted to come along. She agreed and joined me in my car as we went out. In the car, we talked about our families and academics. On our way back, we branched at an “all you can eat” and had dinner. I paid. We earlier talked about going to the movies but it was discarded since we had different tastes. We got home and we went our separate ways – I live in the flat directly above. I came back almost immediately to ask her for her phone number. She was already on her way out to smoke, so she gave me her phone number and we both stepped outside and gisted while she smoked. I called her on Saturday morning to ask if she managed to complete her assignment that we talked about in the car the previous nite. No contact on Sunday. On Monday night, I called her about 2 minutes after 9pm (my free airtime period) and there was no response. She called back at about some minutes to 12midnite and that was when my wahala began.

To be continued.

She wasn't the one on the phone; rather it was her "husband". He accused me of forcing myself on his wife on Friday night etc. I tried to explain but he was not even willing to listen. I managed to sleep but I didn't feel at ease because he has threatened to deal with me. This woman is at least separated. She had earlier written in her introduction in the Apartments monthly newsletter that she's divorced. I didn’t know what to do. I believe the “husband” would have found out the truth and would have relaxed a little bit but I was wrong. I got a call from the School police dept on Wednesday; I have been accused of Burglary with the intent to commit assault just as the husband threatened. I went and told them what happened. Funny enough, the girl told them I assaulted her on a Saturday. Her story is that we went out together and came back only for her to run inside her apartment because she was scared of me. I came back to knock and when she opened the door, I forced myself in and grabbed her legs, kissed her legs and asked her when was the last time she had sex. I can’t remember how she said I left. I asked the police chief to call my brother in law to tell them where I was on Saturday. I showed receipts of payments to show where we were etc. I thought it as over but they came for me on Thursday evening and I was arrested for burglary with the intent to commit other felony.

I was whisked to a holding center where I was tried the following morning (Friday) via teleconference. Bail was set at US$50,000 and there was a restraining order because she has said that she was scared of me. I was in jail till Monday morning when we went to court to ask for the bail to be reduced. It was reduced to $30K but the judge insisted that I move out of the apartment complex. I was also ordered not to go near the place. My brother-in-law posted the bail bond and secured my release. I have not said what was going on in my mind during these 5 days because they were too numerous. I could not even think clearly until we got a lawyer and the lawyer asked me some important questions
1. How could a grown woman not remember the day she was assaulted just a few days after the incident?
2. How come nobody heard about the assault until Monday? And why did they wait till Wednesday to report? She had the school police at her beck and call. The county police office is also just across our apartment.
3. How come she as able to sleep alone in the same flat where I assaulted her despite her claim that she was scared of me even before I assaulted her.

With these 3 questions in mind, I intensified my prayer that God will expose this katakata and foil the enemies’ plans concerning my life. I have heard of people with flimsier charges on shakier grounds being thrown into prison especially when a black man is being accused by a white lady.
My lawyer suggested we go for a jury hearing hoping that the jury will throw the case out such that we would not have to go into trial. 3 months, and about $10K later ($3K for bail bond, 4K for lawyer, had to pay for the remaining months on my lease in the apartment etc), the jury threw out the case. I was overjoyed to say the least.

I’ve been wondering why she did all these to me and my conclusion is that her husband still comes around her once in a while. He saw my call on Monday evening and queried her to the extent that she said we went out together. The husband wanted to punish me for going close to his wife (outgoing wife). The woman decided to play along either out of fear or for the hope that she can be reconciled with the man. I just thank God that God did not allow them to build the life upon the ruins of my own life.

I tried to sue her but lawyers refused to take the case because they feel we would not be able to make enough money from her since she is more or less jobless.

What can I say unto the Lord but to say [size=14pt]THANK YOU LORD!!![/size]

I need help. Thank God for you. How will someone commit such a crime against another human being, she would have let you go to prison just so she can be reconciled with a physco husband? Shouldnt the police chsrge her for bring on false charges?

I fear o. I tried to raise the false charges thing but I didn't have enough faith in the police chief that could come to arrest me even when the victim can not be specific on the day on which she was assaulted.

I was on my way out anyway, and I nor be son of soil.

Aisha, I got your message. I'll go on and look up the thread.