Tally, I really felt for you!!
My husband and I both know what it is like to be falsely accused and what it does to you physically and emotionally. And you are so right, that even if you are exonerated by the Law, the mud sticks.
The last few days I have been supporting a man who has been falsely accused of sexual abuse. Yesterday it finally came out in Court that the daughter had been in therapy, had been "recovering memories", had never had the memories until then, etc. And not once did she get her story straight ..... The man hasn't given his evidence yet, but it will have it tossed out because he was not even in the country when these events supposedly took place. This is not the first case we have had like this here where the father wasn't around at the time of the alleged events.
But I know from previous cases that this father will not be able to live this down ..... there will always be people who believe that there must have been something, otherwise she wouldn't have made the accusations. Interestingly, of the three cases we have going right now, two of them have been instigated by the sisters of the accused and it has been over money!!!!!!!!
As for mud sticking: Take the case of Lindy Chamberlain (The movie made about it was called A Cry in the Dark in the USA and Evil Angels here in Oz.) She was convicted of killing 10 week old Azaria when it had been taken by a Dingo - one of our wild dogs. She was exonerated but only after three years in prison. Even now there are people who still believe she killed the baby despite the fact that only last month a dingo killed a 9 year old boy.
Tally, the most important thing is that YOU know the truth! You, and only you have to live inside yourself .....
DO NOT ALLOW anyone to judge you
Hold that head high and eyeball anyone who dares to!
And a huge cyberhug to you ...... and one for your dad too.
JanG
CAIC Website: http://caic.org.au/zjws.htm
Personal Webpage: http://uq.net.au/~zzjgroen/