Sex offender awarded joint custody of child after alleged rape

  • 08/10/2017
court gavel
Court gavel. Photo credit: iStock

A convicted sex offender in Michigan has been awarded joint custody of a boy born after he allegedly raped the child's mother.

The victim's attorney is now seeking protection under the federal Rape Survivor Child Custody Act, with a hearing scheduled for October 25.

Accodring to the Detroit News, the mother was only 12 years old when she and her older sister were abducted and held for two days by Christopher Mirasolo, then 18, in September 2008.

Mirasalo was arrested a month later, after his victim discovered she was pregnant, and he was ultimately convicted of attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Sentenced to a year in the country jail, Mirasalo was released after six-and-a-half months to care for his sick mother.

Now 27, he has been awarded joint custody and granted parenting time to the boy, now eight, after DNA testing confirmed he was the father. The case is believed to be the first of its kind in the state of Michigan and possibly the entire United States.

Mirasolo was later convicted of another sexual assault on a teenager, serving four years for that offence.

"This is insane," claimed Rebecca Kiessling, the victim's attorney, who filed objections on Friday (local time). "Nothing has been right about this since it was originally investigated.

"He was never properly charged and should still be sitting behind bars somewhere, but the system is victimising my client, who was a child herself when this all happened."

Ms Kiessling claimed the custody was awarded with neither her client's consent nor a proper hearing, and her client was told she could not live more than 160km from where she had lived when the case was filed.

Mirasalo's attorney, Barbara Yockey, insists her client did not initiate the custody proceedings and it was unclear what his future involvement with the child would be. 

Newshub.