Dad held for murder of mom, 5 kids (Tampa, Florida)

Dad MESAC DUMAS has been charged with 6 counts of 1st-degree murder in the slayings of his wife and 5 children. He was captured in Haiti, and will be returned to the US. He had a history of domestic violence against his family. After his last offense, he got the usual useless classes and touchy-feely programs and so forth. He should have just been locked up. Then maybe 6 people would be alive today.

http://www.macon.com/nation/story/851889.html

Monday, Sep. 21, 2009
Man faces murder charge in slaying of wife, kids
By CHRISTINE ARMARIO - Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. -- A southwest Florida man has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of his wife and five children, authorities said Tuesday.

The Collier County Sheriff's Office said Mesac Damas has been ordered held without bond upon his return from Haiti, where he is being detained. Florida investigators obtained a warrant for his arrest on the murder charges and were traveling to the Caribbean nation on Tuesday to interview him.

In an interview at the police station where he was being held in Port-au-Prince, Mesac Damas told The Associated Press that he had planned to surrender and that he returned to Haiti to say goodbye to his family. Damas did not respond when asked if he killed his wife.

He was captured by police outside a hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, and the Florida sheriff's office said its information does not support Damas' contention that he intended to surrender.

"He missed an awful lot of opportunities to turn himself in," Collier County Capt. Chris Roberts said at a press conference in Naples on Tuesday.

Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said his agency has asked Haitian authorities to extradite Damas, and that they have two ways to proceed: through the normal extradition process under a treaty in place between the two countries since 1904, or by deporting Damas, since he is a U.S. citizen.

"We certainly don't know what the Haitian authorities will do," he said.

The family was discovered Saturday after a relative filed a missing persons report. The sheriff's office has not said how Guerline Damas and her children were killed, but a relative said detectives told the family their throats had been slit.

Rambosk said investigators are still awaiting the autopsy results.

Authorities have said there was a history of domestic abuse between Guerline and Mesac Damas, who had been married for two years and together for 10. Mesac Damas was charged with misdemeanor battery in January after he struck Guerline Damas, 32, while she held their youngest child, a baby girl, in her arms.

He pleaded no contest and was given 12 months probation and ordered to attend parenting classes and a battery intervention program. The state Department of Children and Families had been monitoring the family and visited their home just three days before the killings. The caseworker found nothing amiss.