The father of an 18-year-old boy who raped a girl forced his son to turn himself into police for the crime and says he’d do the same again. Jonathan Evans from Pontypool in South Wales in the United Kingdom discovered his son Jack’s crimes after reading text messages between the teen and the victim. After pushing his son to “do the right thing,” he then escorted him to the local police station so he could confess and face justice.
- The incident took place in January 2019. However, his father didn’t discover the text until two months later. According to reports, Jack was 17 and working at a fast-food restaurant at the time and convinced a young woman to have sex with him. However, when she changed her mind at the last minute, he continued to force himself on her. “He carried on anyway despite her telling him to stop and trying to push him off,” Prosecutor Claire Pickthall told the court, BBC News reports.
- It was important to Jonathan that his son pay for his actions. “I believe you have to own what you did,” Jonathan told the Mirror. “So I had to make it his choice.” While Jack did privately admit that he was guilty and apologize for the rape, his father knew that wasn’t enough.
- Jack agreed that he needed to turn himself in. While most people, especially teenagers, would run a mile when told that they needed to go to the police about a crime they committed, Jack actually agreed with his dad that he needed to formally confess. “I am really proud of him for coming to the conclusion that the right thing to do was admit to it,” Jonathan said.
- Jack has been formally punished for his crime. He’s been sent to a juvenile detention center for two years and when he’s released, he’ll be forced to register as a sex offender and will remain on the registry for the next 10 years. In other words, this decision will likely follow him for the rest of his life.
- Despite the ways this has impacted Jack’s future, Jonathan has no regrets. He doesn’t feel bad for forcing his son to face justice for what he did and says that if he had to go back, he would make the same decision all over again. “I would do the same thing again,” Jonathan said. “I would have to because that is my moral standing on it, it is painful but it is right. You cannot get on with your life if you live your life under a lie, as much as this hurts it is the right thing to do.”