...were there any consequences?

[Tamesa]

I have a 16 year old boy and find this really really upsetting. AIBU to wonder has the accuser suffered any consequences?
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/29/mother-of-son-who-hanged-himself--after-being-falsely-accused-of/

What sort of consequences? Rape Allegations are dropped for a variety of reasons, dropping them doesn't mean the rape never occurred, to make it criminally culpable would only hurt real victims.

The boy was clearly vulnerable and in need of help, If the rape accusations were just a sick joke, I really hope that Karma gets the accuser.

On the daily mail website it annoyingly says 'false allegations' at the beginning

But later on just says the allegations were withdrawn

So not necessarily 'false' then

Very sad story.

A 17 year old kills himself, his mother is so distraught she does the same and still we get people saying he wasn't necessarily innocent. In this country, and many others, you are innocent until proved guilty so an innocent boy and his mother are dead. Can we leave the justifying of false allegations out of it? Some people might withdraw allegations for a variety of reasons but some girls make false allegations.

""A 17 year old kills himself, his mother is so distraught she does the same and still we get people saying he wasn't innocent""

That's not what people are saying. Just because a Rape allegation is withdrawn doesn't mean that it was false.

You could just as easy criticise the Doctors who decided that he wasn't a priority for CBT, or other MH services.

It's a tragic case, all round.

In this country, and many others, you are innocent until proved guilty

Accusing someone of making false accusations is accusing them of a crime actually. So I think you should also think twice before claiming that someone committed a particularly nasty crime.

Really sad. Some people will always believe the woman and not accept the possibility she has made it up. People who do this are despicable, destroy others lives and make it harder in some cases for real rape victims to be believed.

Given that we don't have access to the actual evidence, all we can go on is the most likely scenario, which is that she wasn't making it up. False accusations are very rare. Non-prosecutions of rapists are not so rare.

It is being reported as "false" claims of rape. This is awful. Regardless of guilt or innocence of any party, and whatever the truth.

krystal Karma really?!! Hasn't there been enough suffering?

Their poor sister/daughter. So very very sad.

I didn't see anywhere that the allegations were false, merely that they were withdrawn.

Janecc: If the allegations were false and some horrid joke that led to a vulnerable boy taking his life and his mother doing the same, then yes, I hope Karma gets the accuser, although withdrawing allegations doesn't mean she was lying.

Atenco, I didn't accuse anyone, I said people withdraw allegations for a variety of reasons and sometimes they are false allegations. Hope that makes it clearer for you.

Pearlman that isn't what some people are saying though. The most liekly scenario?

I can tell you people do make false allegations, 20 years working in a large police force and I have seen it, seen women making allegations and then admitting that it was false.

I think it is awful to assume men are always guilty and as LagunaBubbles says it makes it harder for the women who have been raped.

20 years working in a large police force and you appear not to be aware that false rape accusations are a very very small number of cases compared to the number of rapes that are never reported, never reach court or never get a conviction.

It must have been dreadful for his sister - his mum killed herself because she lost her son, but what about her daughter?

"still we get people saying he wasn't necessarily innocent"

If you believe that he innocent (I don't know how), then you believe that the accuser was making false allegations, or is there any other possible explanation here?

Certainly suicide is neither a proof of guilt or a proof of innocence.

The poor sister...

Losing her mum and her brother

Just because he commit suicide doesn't mean he was innocent. Doesn't mean he was guilty either.

Unless the potential victim comes back, though I doubt they will now, we won't know what happened

People always say 'innocent until proven guilty' as if legal presumption of innocence means they actually didn't do it, until the moment they are found guilty.

Peculiar.

People always say 'innocent until proven guilty' as if legal presumption of innocence means they actually didn't do it, until the moment they are found guilty. It is bizarre. A legal presumption of innocence is very different to a person actually being Schrodinger's accused.

We don't know if they were false allegations, however false accusations are made. It's certainly not unheard of.
I feel so sorry for this family.
I think i understand where crystal is coming from. If these accusations were false then i hope the girl can live with her actions.

There is no evidence whether he was guilty or innocent.
The article said he had a history of depression. So he may have killed himself anyway.

Schrodingers accused! Yy!!

And many women who are raped withdraw allegations. Because frankly unless there is a watertight case, the trauma is usually not worth it for the woman who was raped

It's very common to accuse exes usually during divorces, it's wrong to say it's not common. Very sad all around this case though. It's impossible to tell what went on.