A mother whose husband was jailed for
repeatedly raping her young daughter for 16 years, was forced to pay
him spousal support after their divorce and is being asked for back
payments now that he has been released from jail.
Carol
Abar from Corona, California, has been living a nightmare since her
daughter, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed that her stepfather
Ed had been systematically abusing her since she was nine years old.
Although
she immediately filed for divorce from Mr Abar, because the marriage
was terminated before the sexual abuse charges were brought against him,
Ms Abar, the higher earner found herself a victim of a loophole in the
California legal system.
Happy days: Carol Abar (right) has been paying
alimony to the man she married in 1991 and divorced sixteen years later
when her daughter (left) told her he had been raping her the entire time
Since their divorce she has
been paying her ex-husband monthly alimony of $1,300 and had given him a
total of $22,000 until Mr Abar struck a plea deal last year and pleaded
guilty to one of the five rape charges.
Sentenced
to a year in prison, Mr Abar has now been released and is demanding
that payments resume and his ex-wife compensate him for the year the
support was put on hold during his incarceration.
Every time I wrote that check, I cried because I felt like I was paying the man that raped my daughter,' Ms Abar told CBS2.Explaining how she ended up paying the alimony she said: 'The judge told me I had no proof. It was my word against him.'
Oblivious: Ed Abar (right) was convicted of
raping his stepdaughter but not until after the couple were divorced
which meant Mrs Abar, as the higher earner, was obligated to pay spousal
support
Ms Abar was horrified when her
daughter confessed what had been going on under her roof. Remaining in
the shadows while interviewed, her daughter told CBS: 'He had threatened
me that he would kill my mom; he would kill my stepbrothers; he would
kill me.'
According to
his attorney, Mr Abar eventually pleaded guilty to avoid a longer
sentence but still maintains his innocence and deserves the money from
his former wife.
'Under
the law, he is entitled to some relief from the higher income producing
spouse, so that the marital standard of living can be maintained,' said
Sherry Collins.
But Ms Abar's attorney, Brian Uhl has called the demands a 'miscarriage of justice.'
'He's
asking not just to resume the existing support of $1,300 a month, but
he's asking for what amounts to approximately $33,000 in past due
support,' he explained.
Nightmare: Ed Abar pleaded guilty to one charge
of rape and was sentenced to a year in jail. Now that he is free he is
demanding that Carol Abar pay him $33,000 in back payments from the past
year and that she continue with the monthly support
Under California law, spousal
support only takes into consideration domestic abuse between couples and
not any acts involving children. Since the convicted rapist never
behaved violently towards his wife, the judge in their divorce ruled in
his favour.
Now that Mr Abar is free, Mr Uhl admits that it is 'remotely possible' that his demands may have legal grounds.
'That concerns myself and it should concern those people in California that have similar situations,' he lamented.
Ms Abar's daughter says she is unable to move forward thanks to her stepfather's request.
'It hurts me. I still feel like I'm being victimized,' she said.
Her
mother sobbed: 'He victimized a little girl all these years and I have
to pay him for that behavior... it just doesn't make sense to me.'
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