Custodial dad charged with raping 8-year-old daughter claims amnesia (Bakersfiled, California)

OMG. Somebody give custodial father RAY CORIELL an Oscar for best tear-jerking performance by a rapist daddy. This guy has the nerve to play up his victimhood??? Barf.

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/126874958.html

Father accused of rape: 'I don't remember'
By Carol Ferguson, Eyewitness News and Bakersfield

Now.com Published: Aug 5, 2011 at 6:37 PM PDT

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Bakersfield father accused in the assault and rape of his young daughter allegedly told investigators he doesn't remember much of the early morning incident. But, at one point, investigators say they told Ray Coriell, "You know she was sexually assaulted when she was with you," and he nodded his head to agree.

That's some of the new information in court documents on the case.

The father was in court Friday morning. He's set to return in early September. Coriell faces eight felony charges, including rape and attempted murder.

The child disappeared from the family home early on July 27, the day before her eighth birthday. She was reported missing by her step-mother and turned up several hours later in east Bakersfield, about nine miles from her home. She was bruised and badly assaulted. The child was kept at the hospital for a couple days.

The following day, the father barricaded himself in the home, saying he was suicidal. After a seven-hour standoff, he was arrested.

In later interviews, Coriell was reportedly asked to take a polygraph, but case records show officers found the father "appeared deceptive" in answering some of the questions. Investigators said that included the questions: "Did you have anything to do with (your daughter) being taken from the home last night?" and, "Did you have any sexual activity with (your daughter) last night?"

Sheriff officials have said Coriell was charged with the crime in part because his cellphone could be tracked to the area where the child was found. It's a location a long way from where he works.

The father reportedly told officers he was sexually molested as a child. In a later interview Coriell told officers he has black-outs and memory gaps. Asked if he could remember taking his daughter from her room into his truck, Coriell said he couldn't. And he told officers he could remember realizing someone was in the the truck with him when he heard a "wheez or cough."

When officers could talk to the child, the girl was asked if she knew why she was being interviewed. "Well, I got kidnapped the other night," she responded. The investigator said the little girl became pensive, made no eye contact, and covered herself with a blanket when asked about the incident.

The child said she remembered waking up under a couch in some grass. Asked how she was removed from her bedroom, the little girl told officers she "did not know who did it or where she was."

Officers report the child said "she did not remember who took her, (the girl) said when they squeezed her neck she could not do anything."

The child was asked if she was afraid of getting someone into trouble and responded, "My step-mom wouldn't ever do that to me. So if it was probably somebody else. Yeah I would get them in trouble," according to the case documents.

At last report, the child is in protective custody.

The child had disappeared from her bedroom. Several family members said she had been put to bed at about the same time as her parents went to bed. When the stepmother discovered the child was missing, she phoned the father. He usually leaves very early in the morning for work.

The family also told investigators about an incident just before this on July 25 when the father returned home briefly early in the morning, and found the mother's electric hair straightener wrapped in a burned towel in the child's bedroom.

Coriell is set to be back in court on Sept. 9.

In one interview, an officer asked Coriell if he was sorry for what happened.

"Ray then stated, 'Very sorry,'" the report reads. "I asked Ray, 'The next time you see your daughter are you going to be able to say you're sorry?' Ray stated, 'Absolutely.'"

The report continues with more of the father's response to the officers. "'Are you going to be able to promise her that you will never sexually assault her again, are you going to be able to repair that bridge.' Ray was crying and stated, 'I hope so, I hope I can.'"