What Constitues Molestation
Full Question:
A friend's 16 year old daughter drove her mother's drunk boyfriend to the store and he rubbed on her leg. He did not touch her genitals or other private areas, just rubbed her thigh. Is that considered molestation? He doesn't remember the incident, but he remembers her driving and a specific incident where she turned sharp and he grabbed her knee. He apologized and she said it's okay my dad does it all the time, he said well I don't and apologized. The daughter came home and told her mother that. When she questioned her boyfriend, he said the same thing. Then the stories changed. Every time the woman's daughter was asked by her mother what happened, something was added or changed or she retracted something. She said well he rubbed my leg 3 times and I told him to stop and he did. Her mother doesn't know what to believe because her daughter's story has changed so much. She has confided in me and I say that it wouldn't constitute molestation, if in fact that it did happen the way her daughter said. Can she cause the man to go to jail if she tells someone?
11/30/2007 |
Category: Criminal ยป child molest... |
State: Virginia |
#13102
Answer:
The following is a VA statute:
§ 18.2-67.10. General definitions.
As used in this article:
1. "Complaining witness" means the person alleged to have been subjected to rape, forcible sodomy, inanimate or animate object sexual penetration, marital sexual assault, aggravated sexual battery, or sexual battery.
2. "Intimate parts" means the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, or buttocks of any person.
3. "Mental incapacity" means that condition of the complaining witness existing at the time of an offense under this article which prevents the complaining witness from understanding the nature or consequences of the sexual act involved in such offense and about which the accused knew or should have known.
4. "Physical helplessness" means unconsciousness or any other condition existing at the time of an offense under this article which otherwise rendered the complaining witness physically unable to communicate an unwillingness to act and about which the accused knew or should have known.
5. The complaining witness's "prior sexual conduct" means any sexual conduct on the part of the complaining witness which took place before the conclusion of the trial, excluding the conduct involved in the offense alleged under this article.
6. "Sexual abuse" means an act committed with the intent to sexually molest, arouse, or gratify any person, where:
a. The accused intentionally touches the complaining witness's intimate parts or material directly covering such intimate parts;
b. The accused forces the complaining witness to touch the accused's, the witness's own, or another person's intimate parts or material directly covering such intimate parts;
c. If the complaining witness is under the age of 13, the accused causes or assists the complaining witness to touch the accused's, the witness's own, or another person's intimate parts or material directly covering such intimate parts; or
d. The accused forces another person to touch the complaining witness's intimate parts or material directly covering such intimate parts.
(1981, c. 397; 1987, c. 277; 1993, c. 549; 1994, c. 568; 2004, c. 741.)