Tears of a mother whose child was sexually abused

(Baonghean.vn) - 'I don't know if I still hold hatred or not. I just hope my child can have a new life, forgetting the past'.

» Trial of 68-year-old 'bluebeard' who ruined the life of an 8th grade female student

Shocked to know daughter is more than 6 months pregnant

Not yet 50 years old, but the woman in front of us looked surprisingly haggard, her hair had turned silver in many places. Recalling the day she discovered her daughter was pregnant, Ms. Thuy (Vinh City, Nghe An) burst into tears:

“She was a good girl but very silly. She never went out to play, and came home right after school. Her paternal family had a thin, pale complexion, so she was sickly since she was little. Later, it was discovered that she had glomerulonephritis, so she had to go for regular check-ups every year. Before I knew she was pregnant for a few months, I took her to get her kidney checked, but the hospital didn’t detect it. They must have been careless because they thought she was just a child.

Then I saw that her belly was bigger than normal. My acquaintances in the village and the neighborhood joked: Feed her less so she won’t get fat and look ugly. At that time, I didn’t think anything of it, just thought that maybe her kidneys had a problem, so I took her to the doctor. They said she was 26 weeks pregnant, and I was shocked and couldn’t believe it, I fainted on the spot. My child is a good child, not bad at all, how could it have turned out like this. After I asked her later, she told me, and I found out…”

What made the mother most heartbroken and angry in the whole story was that the person who harmed her daughter was the relative she always trusted and respected as a father and grandfather. “He often came to visit, gave me advice on how to do business, encouraged me to study hard and he would give me gifts as a reward. Who would have thought…”.

When the story broke out, because she was a relative, Ms. Thuy initially agreed to resolve everything as quietly as possible. Then she planned to take her child away for a while to give birth, using the excuse of taking her to get kidney treatment.

“But they wouldn’t let me and my child live in peace. They spread rumors that the girl was a spoiled brat who seduced men. Then they said the child wasn’t his. I couldn’t stand it any longer with such cruelty. I didn’t say anything, but the girl was only in her teens and had her whole life ahead of her.

I told him, it would be less painful if he stabbed me. He remained indifferent, then I decided to report to the government, if the government could not resolve the matter, then I would ask the press. The truth must be brought out, and whether it is right or wrong, we will wait for justice to judge.

Struggling to get justice for daughter

Recalling the process of filing a petition to the authorities at all levels, the police, and finally asking the press to intervene, Ms. Thuy wiped away her tears: “They received the petition, then came back to find out information, and also summoned me to give a statement, but after a long time without any movement, I thought everything was over. I was also very worried because that man threatened that he knew this person and that person, had relatives in this position or that position. I was all alone, a widow and an orphan.

Even after the police conducted a DNA test and concluded that the child was his, the family still denied it. Even on the day of the trial, his wife still declared: “Waiting to find the child’s father. I will always remember it.”

The time she spent taking care of her pregnant daughter and pursuing her journey to seek justice for her child were dark days that the mother could never forget. Her daughter was still young and did not understand the seriousness of the situation, nor did she cry or complain about anything while waiting for the day she would become an unwilling mother. But it was the 14-year-old girl’s excessive innocence and indifferent silence that completely devastated the mother.

“Many people are good, they love and help. Many people say nothing to your face but gossip behind your back.”

I feel sorry for the victim, but I feel even more sorry for the child who did not know that he was being harmed. He also did not know that his life and future from now on would turn to a new page, with a scar that he would have to carry for the rest of his life.

“The baby had no morning sickness, nothing. She was just like normal. But looking at her made me feel so heartbroken. At night, I sat there watching her sleep, tossing and turning, crying my eyes out. I asked the school to let her take a year off school and stay home with her. I had no energy left to work. I was always worried that something would happen to her.”

The girl, who was already quiet and reserved, became even more withdrawn. When teachers and friends came to visit, she hid in the house and refused to meet them. She also avoided strangers. “At that time, my mother and I lived a life of half-death,” Ms. Thuy recalls the time when the two of us were like two ghosts who could only rely on each other under the pitying, prying, and criticizing eyes of the world.

“Many people are good, they love and help. Many people don’t say anything to my face but talk behind my back. They say terrible things. But that’s how people talk, I just try to live, what else can I do?”

No more hatred but no more faith in humanity

After the trial, Ms. Thuy completed the procedures for the baby (who was 6 months old at the time) to be adopted in a far away place. Not because of hatred or rejection, even though the baby was unwanted but still had her blood, but because she wanted the baby to live peacefully.

“I don’t want him to grow up hearing people gossiping, I feel sorry for him. Send him far away so he can have a normal childhood like other children. When he grows up, his adoptive parents will tell him everything, if he wants to come back to his grandmother and mother, I will be ready to welcome him.”

As for the 14-year-old mother, who knows if she will remember in the future - and she certainly will - the child she gave birth to from a sad story, the child she never even once raised with her own milk because he was too weak at birth... What will she think, what will she feel? Pity? Regret? Or maybe hate?

“The child was very foolish. She didn’t even know how to hold a baby and wouldn’t hold one. At night, when she slept, she hugged her pillow and turned her head upside down, refusing to lie next to the baby. She didn’t say anything, but I knew she didn’t like the child. When they took the baby away, I was sad and missed him for a while, but the child didn’t react at all. Someone told me: You should be happy because she’s foolish and doesn’t understand. Only then can she continue to live.”

As for me, I don’t know if I still hold any hatred. I just hope my child can have a new life, forgetting the past. And perhaps, I also wish that for myself.”

*Character names have been changed.

Thuc Anh - Phuoc Anh

Photo: Thuc Anh