Woman accused of sexual abuse years later

https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-repeated-her-son-claim-150041126.html

I think this woman may very well have done it in this case, I guess.
The victim was getting ready for his wedding when he admitted that at the age of eight a babysitter sexually abused him. He ended up in therapy as an adult and his parents found the ex-babysitter and informed everyone in her life via facebook that she did this.
The ex-baby sitter is taking the guy's mother to court over it claiming defamation and emotional distress.
While I was reading the story I was imagining what happens to people who are falsely accused by kids.

I can't see why a young guy about to marry would suddenly lie to his parents about a babysitter from 15-20 years ago.
The lawyer is saying the accused it doing the lawsuit to reframe it in her favor, which is something people do if they can.

If the accused was innocent it is a scary story about getting involved with kids

I think there is a statute of limitations on this sort of thing and I would guess it is less than 15-20 years in all states.
From what I hear being convicted of being a sexual predator pretty much ruins lives.

However, the ex-babysitter may have a legitimate counter claim. It looks like she was an adult and is around 65-67 currently according to a name search which may or may not be correct.

Source: https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-is-the-statute-of-limitations-for-rape-34338

Not sure if it is sexual assault or rape he is claiming, the statute of limitations is longer for rape. A further internet search states he was raped twice but I can't stomach reading any more of this or delving into the statute of limitations for rape of children. It is too sad and gross.

Quote
freya
I think there is a statute of limitations on this sort of thing and I would guess it is less than 15-20 years in all states.
From what I hear being convicted of being a sexual predator pretty much ruins lives.

I looked into it once because someone I know had been accused of doing inappropriate things to a minor 20+ years ago (turned out to be untrue), and it can depend on the state. In my state, there is no statute of limitations as far as sexual abuse of a minor (but there is one for sexual crimes committed against adult victims), even if the accused person was also a minor at the time.

So where I live, someone who got diddled by the 14-year-old babysitter could decide 50 years later they suddenly want justice and have the babysitter charged and possibly jailed and/or forced to be on the sex offender registry. Or if they were feeling squirrely, they could make up a total cock-and-bull story just to ruin someone's life.

But at the end of the day, it's up to the victim to decide if they want to proceed with the case legally. If Mommy is spewing hate on her child's behalf, then I can see why it's turning into a defamation case. I understand the desire to bad-mouth an abuser publicly so people know to avoid them, but we also live in a nation where you can sue anyone for any reason. Moo wasn't the victim, so her saying all this crap - even if it's true - is asking for trouble. There's no way to prove the abuse happened at this point, so the court case may go nowhere.