GhLinks Media
Crysta Abelseth, a 32 year old Louisiana mother has been ordered to pay child support and give custody of her daughter and to a man who allegedly raped her when she was aged 16.
Crysta Abelseth, claims that John Barnes, now 46, raped her in 2005 after she accepted a ride home from him from a bar where she had been drinking with friends.
She was 16 at the time and had been in the bar with friends.
“Instead of bringing me home, he brought me to his house. Once inside, he raped me on his couch,” Abelseth (now 32) told Hammond local news station WBRZ’s investigative team.
When she realised she was pregnant, Abelseth pretended to friends and relatives that it was the result of a relationship she had at the time.
“Everyone assumed it [the pregnancy] was from a boyfriend, and I let them believe that,” Abelseth told WBRZ.
Abelseth later gave birth to a baby girl and had moved on with her life until her alleged abuser found out about their then-five-year-old daughter in 2010.
The Legal Battle
Barnes then began a legal battle against Abelseth to obtain custody rights.
“When my daughter was five years old, he found out about her, and once he found out about her, he pursued custody and wanted to take her away from me,” Abelseth added.
Despite later filing a sexual assault report against Barnes in 2015, and fiercely fighting to have her child in her care, Abelseth’s custody rights over the 16-year-old were revoked last month.
“They granted him 50/50 custody despite the fact that [the child] was caused by rape,” Abelseth said.
Why Crysta Abelseth was ordered to pay her abuser child support
Reason why Crysta Abelseth was ordered to pay child support and give custody of her daughter to John Barnes was because, he complained to Judge Jeffrey Cashe that the girl’s mother gave her a cell phone.
Watch full interview below
