Uneven court bail
I was deeply saddened and troubled reading about a Neah Bay man accused of raping and molesting two young girls (“Bail set at $20,000 for Neah Bay man suspected of raping two young girls,” PDN, Jan. 29).
Guilt or innocence will be decided by the courts, but it seems that these two young brave ladies, after suffering in silence for many years, came forward and shared their stories.
If they were raped, then not only was their innocence stolen from them, but adverse childhood experience studies relate what we have already known — their lives have been taken from them as well.
The potential women they could have been have been changed in their DNA forever.
What was the result in court?
I see the triple homicide suspects who allegedly shot our neighbors and took their lives received a bail of more than $3 million.
Yet, a man allegedly steals two young girls’ innocence, rapes them repeatedly, changes and steals their lives as they knew it forever and gets $20,000 bail.
Disappointment doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about Judge Brian Coughenour’s decision.
What does this tell victims who finally found their voice to tell their story?
It tells them that their lives and innocence really doesn’t matter to the court.
It tells those alleged to have committed such heinous crimes, the court doesn’t really see it as a big deal.
Why do people who allegedly take lives with a gun get $3 million in bail, but a man who purportedly takes the lives of two young ladies gets $20,000?
That’s the question.
Shenna Younger,
Sequim