Child-Molesting Charges Dropped

A father accused of sodomizing his 5-year-old son who later died of AIDS won’t be prosecuted, a Municipal Court judge ruled.

After a three-hour preliminary hearing Tuesday, Judge S. Patricia Rosenbaum said there was insufficient evidence and dismissed the molestation charges.

“This is the most tragic case I’ve seen, and I hope I don’t see another like it,” Rosenbaum said.

Michael Henderson Sr., 27, who had maintained his innocence and denied he was infected with the AIDS virus, collapsed into the arms of his lawyer and cried upon hearing the judge’s decision.

His estranged wife, Terry, who testified against him, dropped her head to her knees and also cried.

The case against Henderson was filed in June after Michael Henderson Jr. told his mother that his father had molested him, according to testimony at Tuesday’s preliminary hearing.

The boy died in August, after a nearly two-year battle against acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Before the boy’s allegations, the family and doctors had no idea how the child might have contracted the disease.

Terry Henderson, 25, testified that her son had no blood transfusions, which are one way the AIDS virus can be transmitted. But, outside court Tuesday, she said she was unconvinced that the boy got the disease from his father.

“I can’t really say because I don’t really know,” she said.

Michael Henderson Sr. twice tested positive for the AIDS virus, but he says the tests were faulty.

“I know I’m not sick, and I know I don’t have AIDS,” he said outside court. “And I didn’t molest my son.

“I want my name cleared. I didn’t want my boy to go to his death thinking that his daddy was a molester.”

Henderson said he believed the allegations against him stemmed from a dispute with his wife and her family over child custody after the breakup of their marriage.