When you hire a babysitter, it’s safe to assume the person you hire should have your child’s best interests at heart. You’d also hope that a babysitter actually likes children. Babysitting horror stories are every parent’s worst nightmare (and have spawned a lot of ’70s horror films). Sadly, this was the real life of one Oregon family.
Recently, Joshua Marbury and his wife Alicia went on a date (as couples do), and left their 1-year-old son, Jacob, in the care of a babysitter. Sadly, this babysitter did everything but take care of Jacob. When they returned from their date, they found Jacob crying while the babysitter was asleep on their couch.
The next day, the parents saw that Jacob was covered in bruises–and realized the worst. Joshua recently explained what happened on Facebook, when he found out the babysitter wasn’t going to be charged, despite a verbal confession:
So, why isn’t the babysitter being charged? Apparently, the sitter can’t be prosecuted due to a law in Oregon that states the victim has to be able to definitively prove that the mistreatment was intentional–which is impossible to do when the victim is a baby who can’t actually speak.
In this case, it’s absolutely absurd; it is basically saying Jacob had to die for there to be “definitive proof” of abuse. Apparently, Jacob’s injuries were not considered damaging enough to press charges.
Marbury, of course, is livid, stating on Facebook:
“Something needs to be done. NOBODY can just hit a child and more to just get away with it because the child can’t verbally tell you.
We had a confession from the abuser saying they did it. Still this person was not arrested because they had to build a case and a jury to find him guilty before they go to jail…After two months of waiting we find out that charges are dropped because my one-year-old can’t tell you verbally he was abused and my son did not show he was in pain or that this person ‘intentionally’ did this.
A dead body can’t tell you who killed them. Yet a baby isn’t held to the same standard because he can’t talk?”
By sharing their story, Jacob’s parents are hoping more awareness will be raised when it comes to child abuse, which will hopefully influence how the law is written. We hope that Jacob is doing better–and can’t imagine all of the pain he and his family are going through.
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