Wrongly accused

Hello Everyone, Happy weekend.
I am here again to give you sweet gist to one of this weeks prompt that asks

Accidental accusation
Accidental accusations occur - Have you done it or been accused yourself? Post about the scenario, what happened, and what situations resulted from it? Was there an apology or did those involved roll with the false accusation? Did it ruin a relationship or make it stronger, or damage your reputation? Feel free to avoid specific details if you like, just give us the general information.

yes,
I have been falsely accused once in my lifetime and that incident changed my relationship with my mum, unfortunately to date. This happened over 13 years ago. I remember it so clearly like it happened yesterday because of how humiliating the whole situation was.

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Here's what happened.

I just completed my first year in senior secondary school and as usual, the school holds a graduation ceremony for the graduates, this year I wasn't graduating but I was assigned to give a speech in the ceremony, so I was dressed in my uniform and given a designated seat. My family is always barely available for these things though my sister always tries her best to attend but that day she was too busy with school but promised to come to pick me right up after she was done.

After I was done with my speech, one of the dancers approached me to help her look after her bag while she performs, I see her daily in school, but we weren't friends since I was just going to sit there and wait for my sister I saw no harm, so I told her to drop it by my seat. A few minutes into the dance my sister arrived and told me we needed to go, told her about the bag and she said I could tell someone else to look after it, luckily one of her friends I always see her with passed and I told her I was leaving that she had to look after the bag.

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I took my things and left with my sister, we had to stop by the hostel to pack my bags because I was a boarding student and then we went straight home.

A few minutes when we arrived my sister got a call from my mother who was at work telling her to make sure I return whatever I took from anyone in school and that my school housemaster is coming over with some people to collect it.

Casually I thought it was maybe a calculator I borrowed which I knew I already returned so I couldn't think of anything I had with me that wasn't mine.

In no time my housemaster arrived. My little cousin opened the gate and I saw him walk Into my compound with the girl whose bag I looked after for a while, her mother and her uncle who she claimed was a soldier.

I was sincerely confused until the mother with her pointed fingers told me to do get her daughter the new phone that I stole

I was shocked and speechless

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The mother went on and on about how wretched I am, to steal a phone that I can never afford on my own, my sister couldn't take it anymore she stepped in and shut the woman up, made her look around and see the compound she just walked into, we just moved into our new home so it was still looking very elegant.

She went further to instruct me to get my phone, I was using a blackberry curve 2 which at that time was the reigning phone because I was in a boarding school I always leave the phone at home .it was nothing close to her Samsung flip phone that her mother couldn't stop ranting about.

In tears I asked my housemaster if he believed I took her phone, I even told them about the girl who I left the bag with and they said she didn't take it, they were so confident it was me.

My housemaster apologized and said the mother kept on threatening the school if he didn't bring her to me and when my mother was called she sent my addresses without questions and even apologized on my behalf so he felt it was with me

My mother did what??

At this point my sister was boiling so bad, she had to call my dad and my cousins to come home because they were causing a scene, my mother called again this time shouting for me to return the phone I took

I ran Inside in tears and left my sister to handle it. good thing I haven't offloading my things when I got in, they were allowed to search and didn't find anything. my sister asked how much the phone was and told them to wait for my dad so he can give them the money when they decided to leave because Money is not their problem.

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I wasn't hurt because I was accused I was hurt because my mother didn't support me, she didn't give me the chance to explain, if she had stood her ground and defended me, they wouldn't have found her way to my house. and to top it all she willingly gave our house address to strangers.

everyone who heard it was so pissed at my mother for that move but still she never saw anything wrong in what she did. I told her she tagged me a thief to strangers, she claimed she was only trying not to be biased.

For months I despised my mother and she never changed, she is a good mother in her way but her habit of pleasing other people at the expense of her children or family got the better part of her.

When we resumed school I saw the girl with this said phone that I was humiliated and accused of stealing. She never came to apologize and we never crossed paths again till I graduated.

When my mother came visiting in school, I told her they found the phone and I really thought she would address the issue, especially with the housemaster but yet again she let it slide, so she doesn't offend anyone.

Anytime my mother is about to do something similar I always remind her of the incident, I have forgiven her but it is just so hard to forget.

Never going to make my child feel like that for any reason, I would always listen to both parties, before making any conclusion, if at all for any reason I find myself in a similar situation with my child.