Aitah for paying for my grandson’s defence and taking him in after he did something awful to his stepsister?
My son had his son Jake very young. He was seventeen and his girlfriend was nineteen. Jake died when his son was five. My grandson’s mom eventually moved a couple of towne away and I rarely saw him. We kept in touch through texts, email, and FaceTime.
Jake’s mom married a man with a daughter three years older than Jake. I’m not going to say what I think if her other than to say she was a spoiled child. She would blame everything on Jake and her father would punish her. I didn’t realize everything going on.
In January I guess jake hot his limits. His stepsister came home with bruises from an encounter with her boyfriend. She told Jake that she was going to tell her father that the bruises were from him. He snapped and decided that it he was going to be punished anyways he might as well do it. There is no polite way to say this. He beat the shit out of her.
Then he walked to the the police station to turn himself in. He called me to tell me what happened. I drove there immediately. There was so much more to the story. After I sat with him he told me everything. His stepfather was physically assaulting him as punishment. I contacted a lawyer and let her do everything.
We contacted CPS to report everything. He went to the hospital and his poor little body showed years of abuse. Evidence of a dislocated shoulder. Untreated green stick fractures. Just a lot. He was charged for what he did but we got him released into our care.
We are paying for his lawyer. His mother and stepfather have been charged with multiple crimes. The sister is not in good shape but she will heal.
This whole thing is months away from being resolved. Jake is happy in our house but he misses his friends. Our lawyer is confident that Jake won’t suffer too much from this.
My daughter-in-law thinks we butted in. Her husband is facing serious charges. She is as well. Her side of the family and her husband’s all think we are defending a monster that assaulted an innocent girl. Our side is with us. Several have given money for his defence.
I know what he did was wrong, so does he. But if he hadn’t snapped he might have been punished physically for something he didn’t do.
