TW: Blood, child abuse, potential SA
My sister (16F) messaged me during the night telling me (20M) to come to Dad’s room (she sleeps there atm since we’re in an overcrowded flat and our Dad (58M) sleeps on the living room sofa. When I got to the room she pointed at an unmarked envolope slipped between two books in a collection set on a bookshelf. I took them out for myself (she had already seen them and put them back before messaging me.)
The photos are of a child brused arm, and then there are two of a child’s anus with blood covering most of the backside. My sister, who takes forensics at college, believed the blood in the photo was not any older than 40 minutes due to its colour. The worst part is that the photo of the child was not my sister, as then angle of the photo would have meant the vagina was included. The photo seemed to be of a boy, and I was the only young boy in the family at the time we think these photos were taken. We worry that whoever is in that photo may have been SA’d to cause that much bleeding.
We’re both freaking the fuck out, and have no idea what to do. Do we go to the police? Do we look for more evidence? Should we ask relatives or ask our Dad directly? We were both abused by our mother, and our father has been emotionally abusive, but now we are genuinely scared of him and don’t know what to do. We don’t even know if this was him, or who it is, or if this is nothing or anything really. I asked my partner (21NB) who is staying over until Tuesday what to do, and they suggested we follow a plan that my sister came up with of maybe going to the police.
Please, we would really be grateful for any advice anyone can give us.
Comments
I’m so sorry to hear about this, it must’ve been very shocking 🙁 please go to the police and get out of there. Try to stay with friends or family, this isn’t a safe environment to be in
before contacting authorities, you should ask your Dad via text. it’s possible he could have been sabotaged with the images.
I think it’s ill-advised to investigate this on your own, even if your sister is taking a forensics class. Forensics only makes up part of an investigation, which also includes witnesses, interviews and affidavits.
It could easily be what you suspect, something else, or nothing. Not to mention, and especially if it is what you suspect, then that already makes this too dangerous to investigate on your own. This is best left to authorities to investigate, and your father and his lawyer to explain to them.
Please contact the police immediately. Tell them what you’ve told us then step away and let the authorities handle it. You are in no way qualified to handle any kind of investigation and you may accidentally destroy evidence (incriminating or exculpatory). Don’t wait for the end of the week. Don’t wait until the end of the DAY. Take the evidence you have found to the police and let them handle it.
Are we all missing, the said the photo was not the sister? Like the dad has been sleeping with her.
Do you think your father could have done this to you? Have you ever thought before that you be a survivor of SA?
It’s best to let the authorities know and have them do the investigation, that way it doesn’t get compromised and they can figure out what’s really going on.
As someone your age I can’t imagine what I would do if this happened to me, Sorry to hear this OP. You are doing the right thing by not ignoring it.
I refuse to believe that an actual person in this same situation would not either 1) confront their father, 2) go to the police, or 3) do nothing about it, and instead, go to r/Advice to ask the cesspool known as Reddit about what they should do when the answer to their question is fairly straightforward and obvious.
I’m guessing mom is the culprit, used a foreign object to assault the boy and dad took pics for evidence
Ask him
Honestly, you need to get the police involved. There are any number of explanations for this, but the best one for your dad still has him being an accessory to a crime. The best and safest way to figure this out is to get the professionals involved, ie, the police. Plus they would probably be the ones to refer you to any potential trauma counselling that you would need.
Others have said, and you seem to agree, this is a matter for police and should not be brought up to him privately.
That being said, I find the photo of the bruised arm to be a curious choice if these photos were “trophies.” There is a non-zero chance that those photos are evidence he’s held over someone’s head for years, possibly for the protection of the victim.
Tell the police, keep your distance during the investigation, but keep an open mind and allow the findings of the investigation and the facts that come to light to influence the future of your relationship with him.