A woman in the US has been ordered to pay child custody payments to a man who claims he forced her to have sex when she was 16 years old. Crysta Abelseth was under the age of legal consent when John Barnes, then 30, became pregnant in 2005. Under Louisiana law, where consent age is 17, dating is tantamount to legal rape, as a person under that age is not legally able to give consent. Ms. Abelseth, now 32, has always insisted she was attacked after she offered to drive her home after a night out in Hammond. He told WBRZ: “Instead of taking me home, he took me to his house. As soon as I entered, he raped me on the sofa in his living room.” When she gave birth, Ms. Abelseth said she “let people believe” that she was the child of a friend, but her world was turned upside down in 2011. He continued: “When my daughter was five years old, he found out about her, and as soon as he found out, he took care of her and wanted to take her away from me. “They gave him 50/50 custody despite the fact that [the child] caused by rape “. Mr Barnes has been embroiled in a battle over custody of his biological father child (Image: WBRZ) Ms Abelseth claims she was told to pay Mr Barnes child support (Image: Facebook) A DNA test confirmed he was the father. Mr Barnes told the American newspaper that the child was his own, but referred all other questions to his lawyer, who gave further comments. Metro.co.uk contacted Mr. Barnes through his business for comment. In 2015, Ms. Abelseth filed charges through the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff, but “was never assigned to a detective and nothing was ever investigated,” she said, despite officials saying the investigation remained open. He has now been given full custody of the child following a legal dispute over the provision of a mobile phone. The Louisiana Foundation for Sexual Assault (LFASA) told the agency: “It is clear that not only did a crime take place, but as a result of the crime, this person should not have custody of the child.” A hearing is scheduled for next month after Ms Abelseth appealed for Barnes’s parental rights to be revoked. Contact our news team by emailing us at [email protected] For more stories like this, check out our news page.
