FITCHBURG, Mass. — He first accused as the Boston Marathon bomber and now he’s just been acquitted in a sexual assault case at Fitchburg State.
“It’s going to be hard for me to put it behind me and move on. but I’ll fight through it. It’s tough, it’s a tough situation,” said Salah Barhoum.
At 21 years old, the Moroccan-born man has been through much emotional turmoil. Barhoum was 16 when he was pictured with a friend on the front page of the New York Post three days after the 2013 bombing. A sub-headline read: "Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon." He sued the newspaper for defamation and reached an undisclosed settlement.
He was accused of sexual assault in November 2015; prosecutors alleged Barhoum, then a student at Fitchburg State University, assaulted a student from New Hampshire's Franklin Pierce. The two had met online.
His lawyer said the encounter was consensual; he was acquitted this week.
“You rarely see it happen once to anyone. Twice to the same person in such a short amount of time is just, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Michael Dlott, Barhoum’s attorney.
Now comes the hard part, moving forward.
“Sometimes you just got to be you got to go with what’s happening. you can’t have anger in your heart. you have to have love, you got to love other people, you love the people who support you, the people who believed in you,” said Barhoum.
But despite being exonerated twice, the road ahead will be tough. A simple Google search of Barhoum's name reveals when he's looking for work, his history won't be far behind.
“I haven't got an answer how am i going to deal with this. But somehow I have to,” he said.
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