Well, I guess I might be wrong but I thought that extremely traumatic memories are seared into your mind, even from younger ages, and you can remember details that you wouldn't usually otherwise remember.
It's different when it happens to someone else, if you witness something happening to someone, you empathize with it and a lot of detail becomes muddy as a result. The witnesses mood has a lot to do with that, say the witness is scared, he/she will change the person's details in their mind to follow suit. Might remember the assailant as more menacing or distort the eyes to match what the person is feeling. That sort of thing.
Oh, right. Well, in some cases of child abuse testimonies the children would accuse a cartoon character of abusing them (which is easily dismissed), but then actually it was revealed that the perpetrator would get into a costume of that character. I can't remember the specifics, unfortunately. It's a similar issue. There's also the issue of hallucinogenic drugs being used to warp memories.
Sensitive topic, hurting kids is the most vile thing humans are capable of, sick disgusting behavior.
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