MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local North Attleboro
By Andy Metzger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Posted May 07, 2013
North Attleborough —
Recalling painful memories of crimes that occurred years ago, survivors and their family members asked lawmakers to do away with the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse and to increase penalties for certain types of rape.
“I think it’s my fault because I didn’t scream or yell for help. I had Lifeline and I didn’t push the button. I was frozen, numb. I couldn’t speak. Why didn’t I yell? What could I have done to stop him? Why did it hurt so much?” Lisa Flint, of North Attleborough, a woman whose speech and movements are limited by cerebral palsy and who was raped in college, told lawmakers. She said, “This is what my world has been like since May 15, 2000. I ache for some kind of peace within. I have something he wasn’t powerful enough to take and that is hope. I hope someday I can make a difference for someone else.”
Accompanying Flint before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, Rep. Elizabeth Poirier (R-North Attleborough) said she has known Flint since she was a child and said her rapist was sentenced to 20 years, making him eligible for release after 15. Poirier and Flint support legislation (H 1568) that would allow for life sentences for those convicted of raping people with disabilities.
“It is an aggravating circumstance, and should be recognized as such under the law,” Poirier said.
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