Could Bristol police have stopped Komisarjevsky?
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| Joshua Komisarjevsky |
As alleged killer Joshua Komisarjevsky gets his day in court -- with all the sickening details of that awful day in Cheshire again rehashed -- I can't help wondering if Bristol police and prosecutors could have prevented the murders had they taken seriously an apparent statutory rape a decade ago.Komisarjevsky almost certainly had sex with a 15-year-old Bristol girl before his 2002 arrest for burglary in Bristol -- and police knew it at the time. They chose to do nothing about the abuse of a 15-year-old girl by a 21-year-old man.Had they charged him, Komisarjevsky might not have gotten out of prison in 2007 and certainly would have landed on the sex offender list and perhaps been watched a little closer. We'll never know.I don't blame police for what happened to the Petit family. That was the work of twisted, evil men,But had Bristol public safety officials taken an apparent statutory rape more seriously, the Petit family might well be alive today. It's hard to escape that reality.Here are links to my 2007 blog posts detailing what we know on this issue:
Allleged Cheshire killer a child molester? (July 30, 2007)
Suspected killer's daughter born in Bristol (July 27, 2007)
Alleged killer has a daughter? (July 25, 2007)*****
Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
2 comments:
Hey Steve, normally I agree with you on most things, but I think you may be way off base on this matter. There are countless numbers of isues that can derail an initial complaint at the police level from ever being prosecuted let alone a conviction. Who made the complaint, was the victim cooperative at the time, was there any other evidence to support the complaint, was the complaint withdrawn, did the States Attorney feel the strength of the case warranted prosecution, etc? These are just some of the factors. Even with a sexual assault involving a minor, a sucessful prosecution still needs a cooperating victim to go to court. (unless the child is so young and there is physical evidence of a sexual assault) If a victim refuses to give police a signed, written statement...often the case goes south and an arrest either cannot be made (an arrest warrant will not get signed and be issued) or it is not prosecutable in court. Maybe FOI the investigation first and get some facts.
Well, the police have learn from their previous shortcomings. When proven guilty, he will no o longer be capable of doing these crimes to innocent people.
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