‘I’m Not Saying She Deserved To Be Raped, But…’ Daisy Coleman and America’s Culture of Psychopathy

‘I’m Not Saying She Deserved To Be Raped, But…’ Daisy Coleman and America’s Culture of Psychopathy

… In January 2012, 14-year-old Daisy Coleman and a 13-year-old girl friend snuck out of Daisy’s house in Maryville, Nodaway County, at around 1am and met up with a couple of ‘jocks’ from their local high school. One of the ‘jocks’, Matthew Barnett, and a friend drove Daisy and her friend to Barnett’s house. Daisy was given a tall glass of clear alcohol that the boys called the “bitch cup”; after that, she remembers nothing until a few hours later when, in a state of near hypothermia her mother, Melinda, found her scratching at the door of her house. It was while Melinda was helping Daisy to bathe that she saw the redness around her daughter’s genitalia and buttocks. It hurt, Daisy said, when her mother asked about it. Then Daisy began crying.

The facts of the case are pretty clear. Daisy was drugged by the boys in Barnett’s house, raped by Matthew Barnett, carried incoherent out of the house and driven to her own house and dumped outside in sub-zero temperatures.The boys cared not whether Daisy lived or died. One of the boys later testified that, as Daisy was carried to the car, she was crying. Daisy’s friend was also raped by one of the boys, who admitted in an interview with the local sheriff that the girl said “no” multiple times.

Realising what had happened, Daisy’s mother immediately called 9/11 and was told to take her to St. Francis Hospital in Maryville, where, according to Daisy’s medical report, doctors observed small vaginal tears indicative of recent sexual penetration. The following day police interviewed all of the boys at the Barnett house that night and collected evidence, included a cell phone that had been used to record the abuse.

Barnett, who was arrested and charged with sexual assault, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child (a misdemeanor), admitted to having sex with Daisy and to being aware that she had been drinking. He insisted the sex was consensual. Barnett’s friend, Jordan Zech, was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor for recording the abuse. Within two months however, the charges against both boys were dropped. …

We can be fairly sure that “bitch cups” (and much worse) are not only popular in Maryville but part of the common teenage discourse in towns big and small across the USA. That’s not to say that there aren’t still many good people out there, but they are increasingly in the minority and increasingly unable to stand against the tide of barbarism and heartlessness that will soon wash away what is left of America’s conscience