Dad tortures 12-year-old son for hours; is this a custodial dad? (Gladstone, Missouri)

I can barely read this account. This isn't just "abuse." This is torture. And if even half of this is true, dad KIRK L. DEVINE is one warped little puppy.

But notice something interesting here. You have to read this carefully to see it, but it was the STEP MOTHER who turned Daddy in to the authorities. Wow. What happened to the mother? Is she deceased? Did she "disappear" (you know, like Susan Cox Powell)? Or is this a custody/visitation situation? Did this father have custody? If so, who gave it to him and why? Of course, we have no idea because this boy's mother has been written out of the story entirely.

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT

http://www.kansas.com/2012/02/29/2236139/gladstone-minister-accused-of.html

Gladstone minister accused of abusing son for hours
By GLENN E. RICE
The Kansas City Star
Published Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, at 6:09 p.m.
Updated Thursday, March 1, 2012, at 8:01 a.m.

Clay County authorities have charged a Gladstone minister with whipping, punching and abusing his son for more than five hours.

Kirk L. DeVine, 43, faces one count of child abuse, alleging that he repeatedly whipped his 12-year-old son with a belt and a computer cord. The criminal charge says the assault took place from 6:30 p.m. to about 11:45 p.m. at DeVine’s home on Feb. 14.

According to court records, a 41-year-old woman alerted authorities after she saw the injuries to her stepson. The boy had bruises on his arms, shoulders, chest, stomach, back, buttocks and the front and back of his upper legs.

The boy later told authorities that his father beat him for bringing home a school progress report that showed he had two bad grades and that he was talking in class.

Authorities said DeVine was a minister at Trinity Missionary Full Gospel Church in St. Joseph.

According to court records:

DeVine ordered his son to lie on the floor and “take his whoopin’ ” with a belt, but the boy refused and tried to walk away. When he did, DeVine grabbed a computer cord and began beating him with it.

At one point, the records state, the boy got the cord away from his father, but DeVine knocked him to the ground and applied pressure to his neck and shoulders. DeVine grabbed the cord and continue to beat the boy. DeVine later made the boy hold his hands out to his side. He punched his son in the stomach whenever the boy dropped his hands.

He then made the boy strip to his underwear and raise one leg. DeVine punched him each time the boy put down either his arms or a leg, according to court records.

DeVine made the boy lie over a chair and then beat him with the computer cord. Afterward, DeVine told the boy to clean the blood off of the chair. The boy did not attend school the next day because he was in so much pain.

Five days after the assault, the boy still had swelling on his left forearm, left thigh and right lower leg, court records stated.

DeVine later told investigators that he took the punishment too far, according to court records.