Earlier this week Jawa reported how Franklin County prosecutor Ron O'Brien had informed his staff that he would not be pressing charges against Rifqa Bary's father, Mohamed Bary, for witness intimidation and menacing because "it would negatively impact the Muslim community". Because of the threats made by Mohamed Bary against Rifqa's state-appointed counselor, Jennifer Dorn, she refused to testify on Rifqa's behalf in a scheduled hearing last week.
See, O'Brien had made statements early in the case discounting Rifqa's version of the events even before they had been investigated. And the Muslim community had fully backed Mohamed Bary, claiming that he would never, ever engage in violence. So filing charges against Mohamed Bary now would make Ron O'Brien look like a complete tool, which he isn't about to do.
As criticism mounted this week in response to Jawa's story, O'Brien's office reversed course and publicly announced that they were "still investigating the matter". (PS - a shout out to everyone who contacted O'Brien's office.)
Well, while they're investigating (and will probably do so until everyone forgets about it), we thought you should take a look at the police report filed by Rifqa's counselor. The police report, filed on July 29th and available on the Columbus Police Department's website (case #100656789), provides the following narrative:The victim states that she was informed by the listed witness (W1) that the listed suspect had threatened her. The victim states that the suspect told W1 to tell her if she (the victim) doesn't make the recommendation I (the suspect) want, I'll take legal action against her (the victim). The suspect also told W1, bad things could happen to her (the victim) because there are a lot of crazies out there. W1 told the victim that the suspect then clarified that comment by saying, it is the christians she (the victim) should be worried about. The victim believes the suspect is capable of harming her and is concern by his statements.