Typical Clueless Daddy defense. He was the victim of the step!
BS. Was she holding a gun to his head or something? Beating him up? Ridiculous.
More importantly, who gave this vicious abusive rapist father custody, and left the mother with periodic "access visits"?
UNNAMED DAD
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/father-and-stepmother-of-boy-and-girl-stand-trial-accused-of-whipping-caging-tormenting-and-sexually-abusing-children-for-two-years/news-story/2bef266de29596e21e8c67a45e168c5a
Father and stepmother of boy and girl stand trial accused of whipping, caging, tormenting and sexual abuse for two years
Chief Court Reporter Sean Fewster, The Advertiser
July 6, 2016 7:56am
TWO children were tied to trees, locked in cages, had their fingers slammed in car doors and whipped by a father and stepmother who recorded their suffering, a court has heard.
A District Court jury has been told the girl, now 9, and her brother, now 7, were also sexually abused by their father during years of torment on a remote regional property.
Amelia Cairney, prosecuting, told jurors they would see photographs taken, and recordings made, by the father and stepmother of the abuse they inflicted upon the children.
“The prosecution case is that, while living with the accused, the young lives of this girl and boy were tormented with regular, and often prolonged, acts of violence and neglect,” she said.
“This ongoing abuse, along with sexual abuse, resulted in an environment of fear and degradation on the part of the children.”
The father and stepmother, who cannot be named, have pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of assault and false imprisonment.
The father has also denied sexually assaulting both children on multiple occasions.
Opening the trial, Ms Cairney said the children lived with their father and his partner on a rural property between 2011 and 2013.
She said that, when the children were not on access visits with their biological mother, the children suffered due to the stepmother’s “bad influence” on their father.
“The girl said the stepmother would get angry and say ‘do something to the girl’ or ‘do something to the boy’,” she said.
“When the father slammed their fingers in the car door, the stepmother told him to do this ... after, the children were told to walk home.”
Ms Cairney said the girl would give evidence of nights spent locked in a birdcage and in the garage, and of being tied up and gagged while her father took photographs.
“(One day) the father said ‘you are going in the tree’ ... she said ‘no, please’ (but) he walked her to the tree, lifted her up and tied her to the tree by the neck with a rope,” she said.
“She was not able to touch the ground and her hands and feet were tied as well ... he came back an hour later and said ‘have you learned your lesson?’.”
She said the boy would give evidence of being struck with a wooden bed slat, his father’s belt and being hit five times with a stock whip, leaving visible scars on his body.
“You will hear an audio recording, made by the father, of him tormenting and physically assaulting the boy,” she said.
“A female voice can be heard in the background — the prosecution says that is the stepmother.”
The trial, before Judge Sophie David and a 14-member jury, is expected to run for three weeks.
Showing posts with label torture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label torture. Show all posts
Monday, July 11, 2016
Friday, May 27, 2016
Dad tortures, murder 13-month-old son during first custody visit (Brisbane, Australia)
UNNAMED DAD.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/man-sentenced-for-manslaughter-following-horrific-torture-and-killing-of-toddler/news-story/bf9ee4e0c908e666fdd21320f50103e4
Man sentenced for manslaughter following ‘horrific’ torture and killing of toddler
May 26, 2016 12:11am
Vanda Carson
The Courier-Mail
A BRISBANE father-of-two has been sentenced to up to eight years behind bars for the brutal and “horrific” torture and killing of his vulnerable 13-month-old son.
The 29-year-old storeman appeared in the Supreme Court this morning before Justice Roslyn Atkinson.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to torture and manslaughter charges, but only after he initially lied to police, claiming the boy had slipped in the bath.
Crown Prosecutor Danny Boyle told the court the man had deliberately burned his son’s left foot on the kitchen stove after he “threw” the boy across the lounge-room into a wall, causing head injuries he would later die from.
The man tortured the child at Beenleigh between 12.43am and 8.20pm on December 28, 2012, when he had temporary custody of the child for two days.
A doctor told the court that the child would have suffered “severe physical pain and suffering”.
A paediatrician said “a lot of force” was required to cause the head injury.
The man also attempted to get his girlfriend to lie on his behalf and hide his crimes, asking her to tell police the child was “dopey and kept falling over all the time” and the child had “walked over the stove” after sitting on the kitchen bench.
He told his girlfriend in a recorded phone call: “I’ve got no remorse for nobody’s passing. I just got no feeling”.
Mr Boyle told the court that what “sets this case apart” from other parents who had killed their children was that this man continued to physically abuse his son “not withstanding” repeated protestations by his girlfriend and others, telling him to stop and go to hospital.
Mr Boyle said the man also failed to take his son to hospital even when his girlfriend’s sister commented the tot “did not look right”.
After he threw his son violently against the lounge room wall, and when the child was suffering swelling of the brain, he burned the child’s foot on the stove while his girlfriend was out getting dinner at McDonalds.
“(This) can only be described as a callous and deliberately cruel act toward the child, given the child had already suffered the injury which led to the child’s death,” Mr Boyle said.
The man threatened to kick his girlfriend in the face after she tried to shield the child, begging him to return the baby to his mother.
She told police the baby “looked miserable and not right” before she left the home to go to McDonald’s.
She later called an ambulance and the baby died in hospital on December 30 after his life support was switched off. An autopsy showed he was bruised from head to toe.
The man killed his son during his only ever custody visit.
The mother allowed the boy to stay with his father in the hope they would “bond” and build a trusting relationship.
The man contacted the mother via Facebook when the baby was one year old, asking to see photos of his son.
During the two days the boy was in his father’s care, the child’s mother repeatedly called the man on his phone and sent him texts, demanding he return child.
The man replied “No he’s alright”. He refused to tell the mother where he was staying and on one occasion told her “I’m the biological father you can’t do anything”.
The mother also contacted the police, asking them to check on her baby son.
She told the court that no jail term could take away the distress she feels when she thinks of the pain suffered by her “precious innocent boy” in his final moments.
The man has been in prison on remand.
A psychological report tendered to the court states the man has a “high risk” of killing again.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/man-sentenced-for-manslaughter-following-horrific-torture-and-killing-of-toddler/news-story/bf9ee4e0c908e666fdd21320f50103e4
Man sentenced for manslaughter following ‘horrific’ torture and killing of toddler
May 26, 2016 12:11am
Vanda Carson
The Courier-Mail
A BRISBANE father-of-two has been sentenced to up to eight years behind bars for the brutal and “horrific” torture and killing of his vulnerable 13-month-old son.
The 29-year-old storeman appeared in the Supreme Court this morning before Justice Roslyn Atkinson.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to torture and manslaughter charges, but only after he initially lied to police, claiming the boy had slipped in the bath.
Crown Prosecutor Danny Boyle told the court the man had deliberately burned his son’s left foot on the kitchen stove after he “threw” the boy across the lounge-room into a wall, causing head injuries he would later die from.
The man tortured the child at Beenleigh between 12.43am and 8.20pm on December 28, 2012, when he had temporary custody of the child for two days.
A doctor told the court that the child would have suffered “severe physical pain and suffering”.
A paediatrician said “a lot of force” was required to cause the head injury.
The man also attempted to get his girlfriend to lie on his behalf and hide his crimes, asking her to tell police the child was “dopey and kept falling over all the time” and the child had “walked over the stove” after sitting on the kitchen bench.
He told his girlfriend in a recorded phone call: “I’ve got no remorse for nobody’s passing. I just got no feeling”.
Mr Boyle told the court that what “sets this case apart” from other parents who had killed their children was that this man continued to physically abuse his son “not withstanding” repeated protestations by his girlfriend and others, telling him to stop and go to hospital.
Mr Boyle said the man also failed to take his son to hospital even when his girlfriend’s sister commented the tot “did not look right”.
After he threw his son violently against the lounge room wall, and when the child was suffering swelling of the brain, he burned the child’s foot on the stove while his girlfriend was out getting dinner at McDonalds.
“(This) can only be described as a callous and deliberately cruel act toward the child, given the child had already suffered the injury which led to the child’s death,” Mr Boyle said.
The man threatened to kick his girlfriend in the face after she tried to shield the child, begging him to return the baby to his mother.
She told police the baby “looked miserable and not right” before she left the home to go to McDonald’s.
She later called an ambulance and the baby died in hospital on December 30 after his life support was switched off. An autopsy showed he was bruised from head to toe.
The man killed his son during his only ever custody visit.
The mother allowed the boy to stay with his father in the hope they would “bond” and build a trusting relationship.
The man contacted the mother via Facebook when the baby was one year old, asking to see photos of his son.
During the two days the boy was in his father’s care, the child’s mother repeatedly called the man on his phone and sent him texts, demanding he return child.
The man replied “No he’s alright”. He refused to tell the mother where he was staying and on one occasion told her “I’m the biological father you can’t do anything”.
The mother also contacted the police, asking them to check on her baby son.
She told the court that no jail term could take away the distress she feels when she thinks of the pain suffered by her “precious innocent boy” in his final moments.
The man has been in prison on remand.
A psychological report tendered to the court states the man has a “high risk” of killing again.
Friday, May 20, 2016
Custodial dad accused of keeping 13-year-old daughter chained in basement (North Toledo, Ohio)
The headline is quite misleading. It implies some random father and son kidnapped a girl. You have to go FIVE PARAGRAPHS down to find out that this was the victim's father and that this was basically a case of false imprisonment and torture, not "kidnapping" as such.
The girl has been led to believe that her mother simply took of for Las Vegas. I'm rather curious as to how she "knows" this. Is this what Daddy told her? The one who has kept her chained at the ankle?
I would seriously doubt anything this sick psychopath told this girl. And I think that it needs to be verified that the mother is in fact alive, or whether she has been "disappeared" or is deceased for any reason. Because frankly, it is very likely the father was also abusive to the mother of these kids.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Police-Fire/2016/05/19/Father-son-accused-of-kidnapping-13-year-old-girl.html
Published: Thursday, 5/19/2016 - Updated: 9 hours ago
Father, son accused of kidnapping 13-year-old girl
Bonds set at $500,000 each for Timothy and Esten Ciboro
BLADE STAFF
Police have arrested Timothy Ciboro, 53, and his son, Esten Ciboro, 27, on a charge of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl and shackling her to a support beam in the basement of this house at 825 Noble Street in Toledo.
A 13-year-old girl rescued late Wednesday from a North Toledo home where she said she was kept shackled in a basement for as long as a year is now in foster care, along with two other children taken from the house, authorities said this afternoon.
The girl was rescued when she managed to uncuff herself around 9 p.m. Wednesday with a spare key and run away after the suspects both went for a jog in a park, according to a Toledo police report.
The girl was discovered by a woman who called police when she saw the girl walking in the 700 block of Water Street about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday. The woman told police the girl was carrying several bags and looked like a runaway. The woman told police that she went outside and convinced the victim to come indoors with her.
Once inside, the girl told the woman that her mother had left her and her two siblings and went to Las Vegas. She then told the woman her dad had taken her in but she had run away "because she gets in trouble for wetting the bed," for which he "puts handcuffs on her ankles" and "makes her sleep in the basement."
A judge set bonds at $500,000 each for the pair who were arrested at their residence early today and accused of kidnapping the girl, who told authorities she is the stepsister of younger defendant. The older defendant is a former Toledo firefighter.
During her basement captivity, the girl said she was “fed spoiled and old scraps of food and forced to defecate and void in a bucket containing ammonia,” according to court documents.
During their arraignment in Toledo Municipal Court on charges of kidnapping and child endangerment, Timothy Ciboro, 53, and Esten Ciboro, 27, were ordered held at the Lucas County jail in lieu of the bond pending their preliminary hearing May 26.
The victim told authorities she was “kept shackled by the ankle to a support beam in the basement of their [the suspects’] house for different periods of time, once lasting as long as a year,” [and] kept in the dark, according to a criminal complaint filed with the court.
The suspects were arrested about 1:40 a.m. at their house at 825 Noble St., where they live with the older suspect’s three underage children.
The girl told police her mother had left them to go to Las Vegas. The girl was afraid to talk to the woman who discovered her on the street, according to the police report, because her captors had told her if she talked to strangers she would “get into more trouble.” She told police she was put in the basement for wetting the bed.
The girl told authorities she escaped by using a key to unshackle herself when the two suspect left the house to go for a jog in a park. She also told authorities she had not been to school since the first grade.
Robin Reese, the executive director of the Lucas County Children Services said that the agency has been aware of the Ciboro family since at least 2014 when someone saw the girl pick up a discarded bag of french fries from a a garbage container in a park and then eat them.
Service employees then stopped by the house but saw no signs of child abuse and left the girl there, she said.
This time, children services removed all three children from the house and placed them in foster care, Ms. Reese said. All three are fine, she said, adding that the victim’s hygiene was poor but she did not appear malnourished. It appears that the girl was the only child targeted for abuse by the suspects, she said.
Ms. Reese said all three children were home-schooled, may be why the suspects escaped detection for a while, because “the education process is helpful to us to keep an eye on families.”
The spokesman refused to reveal the girl's name or the names and genders of her siblings.
Timothy Ciboro was previously a Toledo firefighter until 2004, according to city and court records. Fire Chief Luis Santiago confirmed Mr. Ciboro was a firefighter.
"I remember him and I remember him not being a very good employee," the chief said.
In 2007, Mr. Ciboro filed a lawsuit against the city fire department in federal court and several lawsuits in Lucas County Common Pleas Court against the city.
He filed a harassment and wrongful termination suit against the city that year. He also filed a lawsuit against his union, Toledo Firefighters Local 92 for failure to represent, and a misuse of authority lawsuit against the arbitrator who heard his case. He was fired after being accused of demanding a discount on ice cream for a friend at a South Toledo ice cream stand in the summer of 2004.
In U.S. District Court in Toledo, Mr. Ciboro filed a complaint on Feb. 21, 2007 over a separate incident at his fiancee's residence. In the lawsuit, Mr. Ciboro claimed he was assaulted by fire Lt. Rico Daugherty and Firefighter William Bruss in February, 2005, while they were treating a diabetic man, who became ill at the home of Mr. Ciboro's fiancee.
Mr. Ciboro claimed he was shoved into a doorway and struck on the head, neck, and back in an altercation with firefighters. At the time, Mr. Ciboro was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault and misconduct at an emergency. One of the assault charges was dismissed; a jury in Toledo Municipal Court found him not guilty of the other count. A judge found him guilty of misconduct at an emergency, a minor misdemeanor.
Neighbor Maria Luna, 41, said the house was occupied by the father and three children, one of whom is believed to be the victim. They lived at the house for at least seven years.
Family members mainly kept to themselves and were always respectful.
"We've sat here watching everybody around us. We didn't notice anything. What did we miss?" she said.
Travis Bell, 23, said he was shocked by the news of his neighbor. He described Tim Ciboro as standoffish, and said he attempted once to speak with him.
"He just went into the house and closed the door," Mr. Bell said.
Mr. Bell said this incident reminded him of Ariel Castro in Cleveland. Castro hanged himself in prison in 2013 after being sentenced to more than 1,000 years when he pleaded guilty to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape involving three women he kept hostage in his home.
In 2013, three women who were held captive for more than a decade escaped when Castro left to get food from a nearby fast-food restaurant.
Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Gina DeJesus had been kidnapped when lured them into his vehicle with the offer of a ride, and held in his Seymour Avenue home. They escaped May 6, 2013. Two of the survivors were acquainted with Castro.
Lucas County Children Services is still in the early stages of collecting information about the Ciboros, such as their previous employment history.
"From our information, that name has been tied to that residence for quite some time but we don't know how long yet," Julie Malkin, Lucas County Children Services spokesman, said.
"This one is an unusual situation and that's all I can say about it at this point," Ms. Malkin said. "We're still pulling information together."
The girl has been led to believe that her mother simply took of for Las Vegas. I'm rather curious as to how she "knows" this. Is this what Daddy told her? The one who has kept her chained at the ankle?
I would seriously doubt anything this sick psychopath told this girl. And I think that it needs to be verified that the mother is in fact alive, or whether she has been "disappeared" or is deceased for any reason. Because frankly, it is very likely the father was also abusive to the mother of these kids.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Police-Fire/2016/05/19/Father-son-accused-of-kidnapping-13-year-old-girl.html
Published: Thursday, 5/19/2016 - Updated: 9 hours ago
Father, son accused of kidnapping 13-year-old girl
Bonds set at $500,000 each for Timothy and Esten Ciboro
BLADE STAFF
Police have arrested Timothy Ciboro, 53, and his son, Esten Ciboro, 27, on a charge of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl and shackling her to a support beam in the basement of this house at 825 Noble Street in Toledo.
A 13-year-old girl rescued late Wednesday from a North Toledo home where she said she was kept shackled in a basement for as long as a year is now in foster care, along with two other children taken from the house, authorities said this afternoon.
The girl was rescued when she managed to uncuff herself around 9 p.m. Wednesday with a spare key and run away after the suspects both went for a jog in a park, according to a Toledo police report.
The girl was discovered by a woman who called police when she saw the girl walking in the 700 block of Water Street about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday. The woman told police the girl was carrying several bags and looked like a runaway. The woman told police that she went outside and convinced the victim to come indoors with her.
Once inside, the girl told the woman that her mother had left her and her two siblings and went to Las Vegas. She then told the woman her dad had taken her in but she had run away "because she gets in trouble for wetting the bed," for which he "puts handcuffs on her ankles" and "makes her sleep in the basement."
A judge set bonds at $500,000 each for the pair who were arrested at their residence early today and accused of kidnapping the girl, who told authorities she is the stepsister of younger defendant. The older defendant is a former Toledo firefighter.
During her basement captivity, the girl said she was “fed spoiled and old scraps of food and forced to defecate and void in a bucket containing ammonia,” according to court documents.
During their arraignment in Toledo Municipal Court on charges of kidnapping and child endangerment, Timothy Ciboro, 53, and Esten Ciboro, 27, were ordered held at the Lucas County jail in lieu of the bond pending their preliminary hearing May 26.
The victim told authorities she was “kept shackled by the ankle to a support beam in the basement of their [the suspects’] house for different periods of time, once lasting as long as a year,” [and] kept in the dark, according to a criminal complaint filed with the court.
The suspects were arrested about 1:40 a.m. at their house at 825 Noble St., where they live with the older suspect’s three underage children.
The girl told police her mother had left them to go to Las Vegas. The girl was afraid to talk to the woman who discovered her on the street, according to the police report, because her captors had told her if she talked to strangers she would “get into more trouble.” She told police she was put in the basement for wetting the bed.
The girl told authorities she escaped by using a key to unshackle herself when the two suspect left the house to go for a jog in a park. She also told authorities she had not been to school since the first grade.
Robin Reese, the executive director of the Lucas County Children Services said that the agency has been aware of the Ciboro family since at least 2014 when someone saw the girl pick up a discarded bag of french fries from a a garbage container in a park and then eat them.
Service employees then stopped by the house but saw no signs of child abuse and left the girl there, she said.
This time, children services removed all three children from the house and placed them in foster care, Ms. Reese said. All three are fine, she said, adding that the victim’s hygiene was poor but she did not appear malnourished. It appears that the girl was the only child targeted for abuse by the suspects, she said.
Ms. Reese said all three children were home-schooled, may be why the suspects escaped detection for a while, because “the education process is helpful to us to keep an eye on families.”
The spokesman refused to reveal the girl's name or the names and genders of her siblings.
Timothy Ciboro was previously a Toledo firefighter until 2004, according to city and court records. Fire Chief Luis Santiago confirmed Mr. Ciboro was a firefighter.
"I remember him and I remember him not being a very good employee," the chief said.
In 2007, Mr. Ciboro filed a lawsuit against the city fire department in federal court and several lawsuits in Lucas County Common Pleas Court against the city.
He filed a harassment and wrongful termination suit against the city that year. He also filed a lawsuit against his union, Toledo Firefighters Local 92 for failure to represent, and a misuse of authority lawsuit against the arbitrator who heard his case. He was fired after being accused of demanding a discount on ice cream for a friend at a South Toledo ice cream stand in the summer of 2004.
In U.S. District Court in Toledo, Mr. Ciboro filed a complaint on Feb. 21, 2007 over a separate incident at his fiancee's residence. In the lawsuit, Mr. Ciboro claimed he was assaulted by fire Lt. Rico Daugherty and Firefighter William Bruss in February, 2005, while they were treating a diabetic man, who became ill at the home of Mr. Ciboro's fiancee.
Mr. Ciboro claimed he was shoved into a doorway and struck on the head, neck, and back in an altercation with firefighters. At the time, Mr. Ciboro was charged with two counts of misdemeanor assault and misconduct at an emergency. One of the assault charges was dismissed; a jury in Toledo Municipal Court found him not guilty of the other count. A judge found him guilty of misconduct at an emergency, a minor misdemeanor.
Neighbor Maria Luna, 41, said the house was occupied by the father and three children, one of whom is believed to be the victim. They lived at the house for at least seven years.
Family members mainly kept to themselves and were always respectful.
"We've sat here watching everybody around us. We didn't notice anything. What did we miss?" she said.
Travis Bell, 23, said he was shocked by the news of his neighbor. He described Tim Ciboro as standoffish, and said he attempted once to speak with him.
"He just went into the house and closed the door," Mr. Bell said.
Mr. Bell said this incident reminded him of Ariel Castro in Cleveland. Castro hanged himself in prison in 2013 after being sentenced to more than 1,000 years when he pleaded guilty to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape involving three women he kept hostage in his home.
In 2013, three women who were held captive for more than a decade escaped when Castro left to get food from a nearby fast-food restaurant.
Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Gina DeJesus had been kidnapped when lured them into his vehicle with the offer of a ride, and held in his Seymour Avenue home. They escaped May 6, 2013. Two of the survivors were acquainted with Castro.
Lucas County Children Services is still in the early stages of collecting information about the Ciboros, such as their previous employment history.
"From our information, that name has been tied to that residence for quite some time but we don't know how long yet," Julie Malkin, Lucas County Children Services spokesman, said.
"This one is an unusual situation and that's all I can say about it at this point," Ms. Malkin said. "We're still pulling information together."
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Custodial dad stripped 8-year-old son named and chained him for five hours; mother has been "away" since boy was a baby (George Town, Malaysia)
Are you kidding? Mom has been "away" since this boy was a baby?
Take a closer look at Daddy, the one who stripped an 8-year-old child naked and chained him up.
Do you think he is somehow incapable of beating, torturing, or even killing the boy's mother?
Do you think that even if she is still alive and well somewhere, she is able to come back and safely claim her son or "co-parent" with this torturer?
Honestly, the media just assumes we're all idiots. "Away" my @$$.
UNNAMED DAD.
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/cops-to-refer-father-of-chained-boy-to-dpp
Cops to refer father of chained boy to DPP
Wednesday May 18, 2016 08:01 AM GMT+8
GEORGE TOWN, May 18 ― Police will refer the case of a 45-year-old school van driver who allegedly stripped naked and chained his eight-year-old son at a stairway of his flat for five hours in Paya Terubong last weekend to the deputy public prosecutor’s office soon for further action.
George Town police chief ACP Mior Farid Alathrash Wahid said police had already recorded the father’s statement and released him on police bail on Monday afternoon.
“We would complete our investigation soon and submit the investigation papers to the DPP’s office for the next course of action,” he said adding that if there were any elements of abuse appropriate action would be taken under the Children Act 2001 for child abuse.
In the incident, the father allegedly stripped his son naked and chained him for being naughty from 10pm on Saturday until 3am on Sunday.
A resident spotted the boy when he came home on Saturday night and took photographs and a video, and uploaded them on his Facebook page. The photographs and video had gone viral since.
Following media reports on the incident, the police investigated the case although no police report was lodged by anyone.
The boy has been placed under the care of the Welfare Department and police supervision since Monday.
Department director Said Sidup said the boy was warded at the Penang Hospital for medical observation following his traumatic experience.
“The boy’s health and mental condition will be supervised by the medical officers. We want to make sure he is in normal health.
“We are also trying to locate the mother of the boy who was said to be away since he was eight months’ old,” he said.
Take a closer look at Daddy, the one who stripped an 8-year-old child naked and chained him up.
Do you think he is somehow incapable of beating, torturing, or even killing the boy's mother?
Do you think that even if she is still alive and well somewhere, she is able to come back and safely claim her son or "co-parent" with this torturer?
Honestly, the media just assumes we're all idiots. "Away" my @$$.
UNNAMED DAD.
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/cops-to-refer-father-of-chained-boy-to-dpp
Cops to refer father of chained boy to DPP
Wednesday May 18, 2016 08:01 AM GMT+8
GEORGE TOWN, May 18 ― Police will refer the case of a 45-year-old school van driver who allegedly stripped naked and chained his eight-year-old son at a stairway of his flat for five hours in Paya Terubong last weekend to the deputy public prosecutor’s office soon for further action.
George Town police chief ACP Mior Farid Alathrash Wahid said police had already recorded the father’s statement and released him on police bail on Monday afternoon.
“We would complete our investigation soon and submit the investigation papers to the DPP’s office for the next course of action,” he said adding that if there were any elements of abuse appropriate action would be taken under the Children Act 2001 for child abuse.
In the incident, the father allegedly stripped his son naked and chained him for being naughty from 10pm on Saturday until 3am on Sunday.
A resident spotted the boy when he came home on Saturday night and took photographs and a video, and uploaded them on his Facebook page. The photographs and video had gone viral since.
Following media reports on the incident, the police investigated the case although no police report was lodged by anyone.
The boy has been placed under the care of the Welfare Department and police supervision since Monday.
Department director Said Sidup said the boy was warded at the Penang Hospital for medical observation following his traumatic experience.
“The boy’s health and mental condition will be supervised by the medical officers. We want to make sure he is in normal health.
“We are also trying to locate the mother of the boy who was said to be away since he was eight months’ old,” he said.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Custodial dad on trial for torturing son still has unsupervised visitation with other kids (Ontario, Canada)
At first you might chalk some of this up to incompetence. But as it goes on and on, down to this freaking piece of sh** of a father CONTINUING to get UNSUPERVISED VISITATION that this is thorough and complete corruption of the family court system by the fathers rights people.
And all their names are being withheld to "protect" the identity of the boy. The boy they set up for torture. Uh huh.
http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/04/29/mountie-in-child-abuse-trial-has-unsupervised-visits-with-his-other-children
Mountie in child abuse trial has unsupervised visits with his other children
By Gary Dimmock
First posted: Friday, April 29, 2016 08:16 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, April 29, 2016 08:36 PM EDT
The Mountie on trial for torturing and starving his shackled, naked 11-year-old son in a darkened Kanata basement is free on bail and has unsupervised weekend visits with his two other sons, who are younger than the first-born son he is accused of almost starving to death in 2013.
The father, who has admitted that he burned his oldest son’s genitals because he thought the boy was the devil, can still play with his other sons on weekends. The unsupervised visits happen outside of Ottawa and the stepmother, who is also on trial, is not present for the visits.
The father has said he chained and handcuffed his son in the basement, and that he rationed the boy’s meals down to just two peanut-butter pitas a day. He also confessed that he burned his son with a lighter and once hit him so hard with the back of his hand that the boy was left with a broken tooth, court has heard.
The victim was sent to live with his father after his mother died in 2009. The boy’s maternal grandmother went to court in 2011 to try to win visitation rights, but a judge rejected her motion. The boy was distraught about his mother’s death and torn between his maternal and paternal family. The judge who dismissed the grandmother’s motion relied on the Mountie’s story and the child psychologist he enlisted.
The psychologist recommended the boy should remain in the full-time care of the father and his wife, both of whom are now on trial.
The same psychologist told the boy’s father in 2010 that he couldn’t “terrorize” his son, and warned him that if he kept punishing the boy, he’d have to call in the child-protection office.
The judge who heard the case was also aware of allegations that the Mountie was an abusive father.
Still, the judge ruled the boy’s maternal family could not have visitation rights. In the 2011 decision, the judge said the father was to send report cards and a school photograph of the boy to his maternal relatives. And if there was correspondence between the boy and his maternal family, the judge ruled that the controlling Mountie was allowed to read all letters sent to the boy he later tortured.
Two years after that ruling, on Feb. 12, 2013, the boy escaped his chains and fled his Kanata basement in search of water. He weighed only 50 pounds and doctors said he had almost starved to death.
One neighbour spotted the boy crouched at his garden tap with an empty water bottle in hand, so he filled it up for the boy in the kitchen, handing it back to him through the patio door.
“I thought I was looking at a ghost. His face was sunken. He looked very old,” the neighbour testified last year at the trial, which began last September.
The boy’s father and stepmother are accused of keeping the boy shackled in their basement for six months. Both are charged with aggravated assault, forcible confinement, and failure to provide necessities of life.
One of their neighbours testified that the boy showed up at their front door around suppertime on the day of his escape.
She told court that she hadn’t seen the boy in a year and a half.
He used to be “chubby, happy and full of energy,” she said. “He was completely changed. I couldn’t recognize him.”
The boy appeared nervous, she said, and fumbled for piggy-bank change from his pocket, offering it while asking if he could stay at her home.
She started walking the boy back to his own home, but when the boy complained of back pain, her husband called the police.
Crown attorney Michael Boyce also called another neighbour to testify about the boy. She said he was small for his age, and occasionally wasn’t wearing proper winter clothes while waiting for the morning school bus, usually alone and across the street from where the other kids stood while his father watched from a car parked down the road.
The woman testified that the boy wasn’t allowed to go to birthday parties in the neighbourhood. She said that when she offered the thirsty boy a juice box, he said he had to go ask his father for permission. The boy returned and said he wasn’t allowed, the neighbour recalled.
The boy’s father and stepmother are prohibited from talking to one another, according to their bail conditions. The suspended Mountie is also charged with careless storage of 9-mm Luger. Lawyers for both of the accused declined to comment Friday.
The Children’s Aid Society has a policy not to comment on such cases.
The trial, presided by Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger, continues Monday. There is a publication ban on several witnesses — including the child psychologist — to protect the identity of the boy.
And all their names are being withheld to "protect" the identity of the boy. The boy they set up for torture. Uh huh.
http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/04/29/mountie-in-child-abuse-trial-has-unsupervised-visits-with-his-other-children
Mountie in child abuse trial has unsupervised visits with his other children
By Gary Dimmock
First posted: Friday, April 29, 2016 08:16 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, April 29, 2016 08:36 PM EDT
The Mountie on trial for torturing and starving his shackled, naked 11-year-old son in a darkened Kanata basement is free on bail and has unsupervised weekend visits with his two other sons, who are younger than the first-born son he is accused of almost starving to death in 2013.
The father, who has admitted that he burned his oldest son’s genitals because he thought the boy was the devil, can still play with his other sons on weekends. The unsupervised visits happen outside of Ottawa and the stepmother, who is also on trial, is not present for the visits.
The father has said he chained and handcuffed his son in the basement, and that he rationed the boy’s meals down to just two peanut-butter pitas a day. He also confessed that he burned his son with a lighter and once hit him so hard with the back of his hand that the boy was left with a broken tooth, court has heard.
The victim was sent to live with his father after his mother died in 2009. The boy’s maternal grandmother went to court in 2011 to try to win visitation rights, but a judge rejected her motion. The boy was distraught about his mother’s death and torn between his maternal and paternal family. The judge who dismissed the grandmother’s motion relied on the Mountie’s story and the child psychologist he enlisted.
The psychologist recommended the boy should remain in the full-time care of the father and his wife, both of whom are now on trial.
The same psychologist told the boy’s father in 2010 that he couldn’t “terrorize” his son, and warned him that if he kept punishing the boy, he’d have to call in the child-protection office.
The judge who heard the case was also aware of allegations that the Mountie was an abusive father.
Still, the judge ruled the boy’s maternal family could not have visitation rights. In the 2011 decision, the judge said the father was to send report cards and a school photograph of the boy to his maternal relatives. And if there was correspondence between the boy and his maternal family, the judge ruled that the controlling Mountie was allowed to read all letters sent to the boy he later tortured.
Two years after that ruling, on Feb. 12, 2013, the boy escaped his chains and fled his Kanata basement in search of water. He weighed only 50 pounds and doctors said he had almost starved to death.
One neighbour spotted the boy crouched at his garden tap with an empty water bottle in hand, so he filled it up for the boy in the kitchen, handing it back to him through the patio door.
“I thought I was looking at a ghost. His face was sunken. He looked very old,” the neighbour testified last year at the trial, which began last September.
The boy’s father and stepmother are accused of keeping the boy shackled in their basement for six months. Both are charged with aggravated assault, forcible confinement, and failure to provide necessities of life.
One of their neighbours testified that the boy showed up at their front door around suppertime on the day of his escape.
She told court that she hadn’t seen the boy in a year and a half.
He used to be “chubby, happy and full of energy,” she said. “He was completely changed. I couldn’t recognize him.”
The boy appeared nervous, she said, and fumbled for piggy-bank change from his pocket, offering it while asking if he could stay at her home.
She started walking the boy back to his own home, but when the boy complained of back pain, her husband called the police.
Crown attorney Michael Boyce also called another neighbour to testify about the boy. She said he was small for his age, and occasionally wasn’t wearing proper winter clothes while waiting for the morning school bus, usually alone and across the street from where the other kids stood while his father watched from a car parked down the road.
The woman testified that the boy wasn’t allowed to go to birthday parties in the neighbourhood. She said that when she offered the thirsty boy a juice box, he said he had to go ask his father for permission. The boy returned and said he wasn’t allowed, the neighbour recalled.
The boy’s father and stepmother are prohibited from talking to one another, according to their bail conditions. The suspended Mountie is also charged with careless storage of 9-mm Luger. Lawyers for both of the accused declined to comment Friday.
The Children’s Aid Society has a policy not to comment on such cases.
The trial, presided by Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger, continues Monday. There is a publication ban on several witnesses — including the child psychologist — to protect the identity of the boy.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Custodial dad has "pain inside" for torturing son (Ottawa, Canada)
Frankly, UNNAMED DAD sounds like a sociopath. He's aping the language of "feeling" and "victimization" when he doesn't feel a thing. In other words, he's a total bullsh**ter.
http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/i-am-in-pain-inside-suspended-mountie-says-as-child-abuse-trial-continues-1.2879448
'I am in pain inside' suspended Mountie says, as child abuse trial continues
Joanne Schnurr, CTV Ottawa Published Thursday, April 28, 2016 4:58PM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, April 28, 2016 5:01PM EDT
A suspended Mountie continued his assertions in an Ottawa court today that he had been a victim of abuse and that, in a fog; he had seen his son as the enemy during the time in which he beat and confined him. The Crown prosecutor was having none of that. The focus today was finding the truth and that discussion led to a combative day between the Crown and the accused who maintained he was legally responsible for abusing his son but not morally.
The boy was just 7 years old when he moved in with his father and stepmother after his birth mother died. Within 4 months of that move, he would spend his first night sleeping in the unfinished basement as punishment.
"He was out of control from the moment he arrived," the father testified in court today, "I was constantly putting out fires."
The 44-year-old father is a suspended RCMP officer, on trial, along with his 36-year-old wife, for confining his son and denying him the necessities of life. The father is also charged with sexual assault.
The man told court that he had hired a child psychologist to ostensibly deal with his son's behavior. When the doctor suggested that the father was "terrorizing his son", court heard that the father ended sessions.
The accused has maintained throughout the Crown's cross examination that he was a man under duress, driven by the demons from his past to view his own son as a demon.
"I don't know what the hell I was doing,” he told court, “why I beat my son, why I burned him."
He has agreed to the abuse, but is mounting a defense, trying to prove he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after he says he was raped as child in Lebanon; that he internalized this abuse and saw his son as the enemy.
After 4 years of living in this situation, the son escaped from the chains binding him in the basement and managed to flee the house while rest of family was shopping. He was 11 years old at this point in time and weighed 50 pounds. Doctors at CHEO, who examined him, said he almost starved to death.
When the father returned home and found him missing, he called 911. That was February 12, 2013.
"I’m guilty of this,” he told the 911 operator, “I did bad things with him. I did bad things to him and I regret it."
From here, followed a frustrating exchange between the Crown, trying to prove this man knew exactly what he was doing, and the father maintaining he was living in a fog.
At one point, the Crown presented a 6-foot long piece of wood flooring; similar to what the father admits he used to hit his son.
"Did you hit him on the arm?" the Crown asked.
"I don't know," he answered.
"Did you hit him on the stomach or the head?"
"I don't know," he repeated.
He said he remembers hitting and burning his son but added he didn't rationalize what he was doing. The trial continues tomorrow.
http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/i-am-in-pain-inside-suspended-mountie-says-as-child-abuse-trial-continues-1.2879448
'I am in pain inside' suspended Mountie says, as child abuse trial continues
Joanne Schnurr, CTV Ottawa Published Thursday, April 28, 2016 4:58PM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, April 28, 2016 5:01PM EDT
A suspended Mountie continued his assertions in an Ottawa court today that he had been a victim of abuse and that, in a fog; he had seen his son as the enemy during the time in which he beat and confined him. The Crown prosecutor was having none of that. The focus today was finding the truth and that discussion led to a combative day between the Crown and the accused who maintained he was legally responsible for abusing his son but not morally.
The boy was just 7 years old when he moved in with his father and stepmother after his birth mother died. Within 4 months of that move, he would spend his first night sleeping in the unfinished basement as punishment.
"He was out of control from the moment he arrived," the father testified in court today, "I was constantly putting out fires."
The 44-year-old father is a suspended RCMP officer, on trial, along with his 36-year-old wife, for confining his son and denying him the necessities of life. The father is also charged with sexual assault.
The man told court that he had hired a child psychologist to ostensibly deal with his son's behavior. When the doctor suggested that the father was "terrorizing his son", court heard that the father ended sessions.
The accused has maintained throughout the Crown's cross examination that he was a man under duress, driven by the demons from his past to view his own son as a demon.
"I don't know what the hell I was doing,” he told court, “why I beat my son, why I burned him."
He has agreed to the abuse, but is mounting a defense, trying to prove he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after he says he was raped as child in Lebanon; that he internalized this abuse and saw his son as the enemy.
After 4 years of living in this situation, the son escaped from the chains binding him in the basement and managed to flee the house while rest of family was shopping. He was 11 years old at this point in time and weighed 50 pounds. Doctors at CHEO, who examined him, said he almost starved to death.
When the father returned home and found him missing, he called 911. That was February 12, 2013.
"I’m guilty of this,” he told the 911 operator, “I did bad things with him. I did bad things to him and I regret it."
From here, followed a frustrating exchange between the Crown, trying to prove this man knew exactly what he was doing, and the father maintaining he was living in a fog.
At one point, the Crown presented a 6-foot long piece of wood flooring; similar to what the father admits he used to hit his son.
"Did you hit him on the arm?" the Crown asked.
"I don't know," he answered.
"Did you hit him on the stomach or the head?"
"I don't know," he repeated.
He said he remembers hitting and burning his son but added he didn't rationalize what he was doing. The trial continues tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Custodial dad, girlfriend found guilty in torture killing of 8-year-old daughter (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
The custodial dad is identified as HAMAD AL SHIRAWEE. We previously posted about this case here and here. At least the mom got custody of the surviving daughter back....
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/child-safety/wadeema-the-emirati-girl-tortured-to-death-by-her-father
Wadeema: the Emirati girl tortured to death by her father
The National staff April 12, 2016 Updated: April 12, 2016 06:35 PM
DUBAI // Wadeema, the Emirati girl whose death shocked the nation and prompted the creation of the UAE’s new child protection law, was found buried in the Sharjah desert in 2012.
The eight-year-old was tortured to death by her father, Hamad Al Shirawee, and his girlfriend, Alanoud Al Amri.
The couple lived in a studio flat in International City where, between November 2011 and May 2012, they regularly burnt Wadeema and her younger sister, Mira, who was seven at the time, with irons and cigarettes, poured boiling water over them and beat them with sticks and bars.
Wadeema died after one such attack. Al Shirawee had beat his daughter for an hour with a bar, then locked her up in the bathroom before finding her dead at dawn the next day. She was then wrapped in a white cloth and buried in Al Badayer.
Al Shirawee and Al Amri were arrested after Al Shirawee’s brother paid a visit to their flat to check on Wadeema and her younger sister, who were both reported absent from school for an extended period. The uncle discovered through Mira that her father and his girlfriend had been torturing the two girls and that Wadeema had died.
In February 2013, the Dubai Criminal Court found the couple guilty of torturing both girls, causing the death of Wadeema.
The court sentenced Al Shirawee to death, later reduced to life in prison on appeal. Al Amri was also sentenced to life.
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/child-safety/wadeema-the-emirati-girl-tortured-to-death-by-her-father
Wadeema: the Emirati girl tortured to death by her father
The National staff April 12, 2016 Updated: April 12, 2016 06:35 PM
DUBAI // Wadeema, the Emirati girl whose death shocked the nation and prompted the creation of the UAE’s new child protection law, was found buried in the Sharjah desert in 2012.
The eight-year-old was tortured to death by her father, Hamad Al Shirawee, and his girlfriend, Alanoud Al Amri.
The couple lived in a studio flat in International City where, between November 2011 and May 2012, they regularly burnt Wadeema and her younger sister, Mira, who was seven at the time, with irons and cigarettes, poured boiling water over them and beat them with sticks and bars.
Wadeema died after one such attack. Al Shirawee had beat his daughter for an hour with a bar, then locked her up in the bathroom before finding her dead at dawn the next day. She was then wrapped in a white cloth and buried in Al Badayer.
Al Shirawee and Al Amri were arrested after Al Shirawee’s brother paid a visit to their flat to check on Wadeema and her younger sister, who were both reported absent from school for an extended period. The uncle discovered through Mira that her father and his girlfriend had been torturing the two girls and that Wadeema had died.
In February 2013, the Dubai Criminal Court found the couple guilty of torturing both girls, causing the death of Wadeema.
The court sentenced Al Shirawee to death, later reduced to life in prison on appeal. Al Amri was also sentenced to life.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Custodial dad, step charged with murdering 7-year-old son; mom had "limited rights" (Korea)
Dad is identified only as WON-YOUNG. This article actually acknowledges that this boy had a mother who was denied contact. But it is light on the details as to who in authority allowed this father to have custody, and refuses to link the problem of abusive fathers getting custody with crimes like this one.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160313000184
Father, stepmother tried to cover up brutal abuse of 7-year-old
Published : 2016-03-13 15:34
Updated : 2016-03-13 17:33
The body of a 7-year-old boy, which police were searching for since last week, was discovered buried at a mountain in Cheongbuk, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday.
He was allegedly killed from months of abuse and confinement by his father and stepmother.
The father and stepmother of Shin Won-young reportedly confessed to police on Friday that they had hid the body of the boy for 10 days before burying him in the mountain on Feb. 12.
The 38-year-old stepmother identified as Kim reportedly confessed to locking Won-young up in a bathroom since November last year, feeding him only once a day and repeatedly abusing him such as by pouring icy water or chlorine bleach on him.
The preliminary autopsy by the National Forensic Service on Saturday showed the boy had suffered from starvation, multiple hypodermal bleeding and hypothermia, among other things.
Won-young’s death is the fourth high-profile case of brutal child abuse discovered this year. Search for the boy was initiated as part of the intensified nationwide survey on children who have not been admitted to school in time or have been absent for a long time.
Won-young’s biological father, identified only by his surname, admitted to finding Won-young dead on Feb. 2, a day after he allegedly suffered another round of beating by his stepmother.
The couple testified that they had wrapped the body of the boy and kept him hidden at their veranda at home before moving and burying the body some 5-meters away from the gravesite of the man’s father.
The couple had given mixed testimonies of their whereabouts. Credit card records had placed them near the mountain, before they confessed.
The police excavated the body of the boy early Saturday morning.
The police are planning to charge both with murder. They said Shin had admitted to having known about the abuse by his new wife but that he had been afraid of facing punishment.
The couple had also allegedly attempted to cover up their crime by sending each other text messages after Won-young’s death.
One of the messages sent by Shin to Kim read, “Won-young is doing ok right?,” to which Kim responded, “He ate well and even brushed his teeth.” The messages were exchanged on Feb. 3, the day after Won-young’s body was found in the bathroom.
Since being arrested earlier last week, they have also given mixed testimonies including how they left Won-young on a street, resulting in hundreds of members of the police force and various equipment, such as drones, being mobilized in search of the missing child.
The funeral of Won-young was carried out on Sunday and it was reportedly attended by his birthmother, who had divorced Shin some three years ago with limited visitation rights to her son. The mother had reportedly lost contact with Won-young and his sister, who has also been living with the father and the stepmother since August, 2014.
Controversy persists over the legal and systematic loopholes in protecting children from abuse, especially from their parents, as such acts by them are considered easier to hide.
Reports said that while there was evidence since 2013, such as pictures of Won-young’s beaten-up legs taken by a child protection agency, neither his father nor his stepmother had been questioned by the police. At the time, there were no regulations that required police to accompany counselors in suspected cases of child abuse.
The officials attempted to move Won-young to a child protection facility in 2014 but this was refused by his father. There were no legal grounds to force the separation.
Special laws were enacted in 2014, bestowing greater authority to the police and counselors at child protection organizations to investigate child abuses cases. Additional revisions to relevant laws have been made this year to better protect children but experts have pointed to a need for more fundamental changes, such as in the areas of social perception toward abuse by parents and chronic insufficiencies in budget and the workforce at child protection agencies. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160313000184
Father, stepmother tried to cover up brutal abuse of 7-year-old
Published : 2016-03-13 15:34
Updated : 2016-03-13 17:33
The body of a 7-year-old boy, which police were searching for since last week, was discovered buried at a mountain in Cheongbuk, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday.
He was allegedly killed from months of abuse and confinement by his father and stepmother.
The father and stepmother of Shin Won-young reportedly confessed to police on Friday that they had hid the body of the boy for 10 days before burying him in the mountain on Feb. 12.
The 38-year-old stepmother identified as Kim reportedly confessed to locking Won-young up in a bathroom since November last year, feeding him only once a day and repeatedly abusing him such as by pouring icy water or chlorine bleach on him.
The preliminary autopsy by the National Forensic Service on Saturday showed the boy had suffered from starvation, multiple hypodermal bleeding and hypothermia, among other things.
Won-young’s death is the fourth high-profile case of brutal child abuse discovered this year. Search for the boy was initiated as part of the intensified nationwide survey on children who have not been admitted to school in time or have been absent for a long time.
Won-young’s biological father, identified only by his surname, admitted to finding Won-young dead on Feb. 2, a day after he allegedly suffered another round of beating by his stepmother.
The couple testified that they had wrapped the body of the boy and kept him hidden at their veranda at home before moving and burying the body some 5-meters away from the gravesite of the man’s father.
The couple had given mixed testimonies of their whereabouts. Credit card records had placed them near the mountain, before they confessed.
The police excavated the body of the boy early Saturday morning.
The police are planning to charge both with murder. They said Shin had admitted to having known about the abuse by his new wife but that he had been afraid of facing punishment.
The couple had also allegedly attempted to cover up their crime by sending each other text messages after Won-young’s death.
One of the messages sent by Shin to Kim read, “Won-young is doing ok right?,” to which Kim responded, “He ate well and even brushed his teeth.” The messages were exchanged on Feb. 3, the day after Won-young’s body was found in the bathroom.
Since being arrested earlier last week, they have also given mixed testimonies including how they left Won-young on a street, resulting in hundreds of members of the police force and various equipment, such as drones, being mobilized in search of the missing child.
The funeral of Won-young was carried out on Sunday and it was reportedly attended by his birthmother, who had divorced Shin some three years ago with limited visitation rights to her son. The mother had reportedly lost contact with Won-young and his sister, who has also been living with the father and the stepmother since August, 2014.
Controversy persists over the legal and systematic loopholes in protecting children from abuse, especially from their parents, as such acts by them are considered easier to hide.
Reports said that while there was evidence since 2013, such as pictures of Won-young’s beaten-up legs taken by a child protection agency, neither his father nor his stepmother had been questioned by the police. At the time, there were no regulations that required police to accompany counselors in suspected cases of child abuse.
The officials attempted to move Won-young to a child protection facility in 2014 but this was refused by his father. There were no legal grounds to force the separation.
Special laws were enacted in 2014, bestowing greater authority to the police and counselors at child protection organizations to investigate child abuses cases. Additional revisions to relevant laws have been made this year to better protect children but experts have pointed to a need for more fundamental changes, such as in the areas of social perception toward abuse by parents and chronic insufficiencies in budget and the workforce at child protection agencies. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Talia's Law passes 11 years after custodial dad, step tortured and murdered 5-year-old girl (Hawaii)
There is a long and sordid backstory behind this. Dad is NAEEM WILLIAMS. See our previous posts.
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Hawaii.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/family/2016/02/09/congress-moves-confront-military-child-abuse-talias-law/80089648/
Congress moves to confront military child abuse with Talia's Law
By Drew Gerber, Medill News Service 9:01 p.m. EST February 9, 2016
The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would require anyone employed by the Defense Department to report cases of suspected child abuse on military installations to state child protective service agencies in addition to reporting such suspected crimes up their chain of command.
The legislation was approved by voice vote and sent to the Senate for consideration.
Called Talia’s Law, the bill is named for five-year-old Talia Williams who was tortured and beaten to death by her father — an active-duty Army specialist at the time — and step-mother in 2005 at Wheeler Army Airfield in Hawaii.
Talia’s mother, Tarshia Williams, sued the U.S. government in 2008 for what she argued were failures by military officials to report suspicions that her daughter was being abused. Williams was awarded $2 million in a settlement last May.
The Defense Department had signed a memorandum of understanding with the State of Hawaii in 2013 that said the state’s child welfare services agency was “primarily” responsible for handling instances of child abuse on military bases. But DOD also has its own parallel system for child and domestic abuse investigations.
Suspected cases of child abuse are reported to military police or the installation’s Family Advocacy Program, which work in coordination to identify and investigate instances of child abuse. Those mandated by law to report suspected child abuse are usually professionally involved with children, such as day-care workers and doctors.
The U.S. District Court of Hawaii, where Williams brought her suit, found that various individuals failed to report Talia’s case, including members of the military police, doctors, and an employee with the Family Advocacy Program – all covered by the House bill.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, speaking about Talia’s case on the Senate floor last June, said information about the abuse never reached the Army provost, whom she said was the only person required to report to the state’s child welfare services.
However, groups like the Department of Defense Education Activity and military law enforcement are required to report to local and state child protective services, as well as to the Family Advocacy Program, according to existing law.
Additionally, a defense official said that the Pentagon has previously recommended passage of legislation to improve communication between the Defense Department and states’ child protective service agencies.
Hawaiian Reps. Tulsi Gabbard and Mark Takai, both Democrats, introduced the bill in the House last November. Both are active-duty military officers in the Hawaii Army National Guard.
the 29,000 cases of child abuse and neglect in the military in the past decade, Gabbard said on the House floor Tuesday that her bill creates the same protections for military children that exist for any other child.
Rates of child abuse and neglect in the military, though half the rate typically seen in the civilian population, have been on the rise since 2010, according to a 2014 memorandum from Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Rosemary Williams.
Incidents of child abuse and neglect rose 10 percent in 2014, a Defense Department spokesman, Air Force Maj. Ben Sakrisson, said last September. On Tuesday, Sakrisson said via email that it is Defense Department policy to not comment on pending legislation.
Kelly Hruska, director of government relations for the National Military Families Association, said the focus now should be on preventing the system from failing any more children.
“We need to make sure children have the best protection possible. We need to make sure potential reports are not being ignored or falling through the cracks,” she said.
Military children serve a strong support role within their families, according to Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who asked her colleagues to support the legislation. Forced to move frequently, military children face greater academic and emotional challenges and rely on their relationships with the adults in their lives, she said.
It is inexcusable, Stefanik said “when those adults that these children trust the most hurt them in any way… Anyone who abuses or neglects a child … must be held accountable.”
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Hawaii.
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/family/2016/02/09/congress-moves-confront-military-child-abuse-talias-law/80089648/
Congress moves to confront military child abuse with Talia's Law
By Drew Gerber, Medill News Service 9:01 p.m. EST February 9, 2016
The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would require anyone employed by the Defense Department to report cases of suspected child abuse on military installations to state child protective service agencies in addition to reporting such suspected crimes up their chain of command.
The legislation was approved by voice vote and sent to the Senate for consideration.
Called Talia’s Law, the bill is named for five-year-old Talia Williams who was tortured and beaten to death by her father — an active-duty Army specialist at the time — and step-mother in 2005 at Wheeler Army Airfield in Hawaii.
Talia’s mother, Tarshia Williams, sued the U.S. government in 2008 for what she argued were failures by military officials to report suspicions that her daughter was being abused. Williams was awarded $2 million in a settlement last May.
The Defense Department had signed a memorandum of understanding with the State of Hawaii in 2013 that said the state’s child welfare services agency was “primarily” responsible for handling instances of child abuse on military bases. But DOD also has its own parallel system for child and domestic abuse investigations.
Suspected cases of child abuse are reported to military police or the installation’s Family Advocacy Program, which work in coordination to identify and investigate instances of child abuse. Those mandated by law to report suspected child abuse are usually professionally involved with children, such as day-care workers and doctors.
The U.S. District Court of Hawaii, where Williams brought her suit, found that various individuals failed to report Talia’s case, including members of the military police, doctors, and an employee with the Family Advocacy Program – all covered by the House bill.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, speaking about Talia’s case on the Senate floor last June, said information about the abuse never reached the Army provost, whom she said was the only person required to report to the state’s child welfare services.
However, groups like the Department of Defense Education Activity and military law enforcement are required to report to local and state child protective services, as well as to the Family Advocacy Program, according to existing law.
Additionally, a defense official said that the Pentagon has previously recommended passage of legislation to improve communication between the Defense Department and states’ child protective service agencies.
Hawaiian Reps. Tulsi Gabbard and Mark Takai, both Democrats, introduced the bill in the House last November. Both are active-duty military officers in the Hawaii Army National Guard.
the 29,000 cases of child abuse and neglect in the military in the past decade, Gabbard said on the House floor Tuesday that her bill creates the same protections for military children that exist for any other child.
Rates of child abuse and neglect in the military, though half the rate typically seen in the civilian population, have been on the rise since 2010, according to a 2014 memorandum from Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Rosemary Williams.
Incidents of child abuse and neglect rose 10 percent in 2014, a Defense Department spokesman, Air Force Maj. Ben Sakrisson, said last September. On Tuesday, Sakrisson said via email that it is Defense Department policy to not comment on pending legislation.
Kelly Hruska, director of government relations for the National Military Families Association, said the focus now should be on preventing the system from failing any more children.
“We need to make sure children have the best protection possible. We need to make sure potential reports are not being ignored or falling through the cracks,” she said.
Military children serve a strong support role within their families, according to Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who asked her colleagues to support the legislation. Forced to move frequently, military children face greater academic and emotional challenges and rely on their relationships with the adults in their lives, she said.
It is inexcusable, Stefanik said “when those adults that these children trust the most hurt them in any way… Anyone who abuses or neglects a child … must be held accountable.”
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Custodial dad, step charged with burning 7-year-old boy with hot water, retraining him with zip ties; what happened to boy's mom? (Clarksburg, Maryland)
Not one word on what happened to the mother of this little boy or how dad CRAIG ANTHONEY WILLIAMS got custody. This should be one of the first questions reporters ask, but they seldom do. Do we know that Mom is alive? If not, do we know for a fact that she died from natural causes? Has she "disappeared" due to extreme domestic violence (if Daddy was capable of doing this to a child, you can bet Mom got similar treatment). Was she out-maneuvered in family court? What?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3431857/Couple-charged-child-abuse-dipping-hands-seven-year-old-hot-water-restraining-plastic-wrap-zip-ties.html
Couple charged with child abuse after 'dipping the hands of their seven-year-old in hot water and restraining him with plastic wrap and zip ties'
Craig and Nicole Williams, of Clarksburg, Maryland, have been charged with first-degree child abuse after their son was hospitalized
The boy suffered a possible seizure, abrasions, blisters and bruisers
He told doctors his parents restrained him with plastic wrap and ties The couple, who have five other children, allegedly admitted bounding him
By Dailymail.com Reporter
Published: 09:44 EST, 4 February 2016 | Updated: 19:32 EST, 4 February 2016
A father and stepfather in Maryland have been arrested and charged with child abuse after allegedly restraining their seven-year-old son with plastic wrap and zip ties and burning him with hot water.
Craig Anthoney Williams, 42, and Nicole Williams, 39, came under investigation after their son was taken to Shady Grove Hospital on December 2 with a possible seizure, multiple abrasions, blisters and bruises over his body and head.
He had to be airlifted Children's National Medical Center for further treatment.
The little boy told doctors that his parents often bound him to his bed all day with zip ties.
Both his father and stepmother admitted to the staff that they restrain him, ABC 7 reported.
His father said he had been using plastic wrap to contain the boy to his bed for about seven months, usually at bedtime.
The father also said he would notice urine and fecal matter on the boy when he checked on him in the morning.
When the hospital called police, the boy told investigators that on Thanksgiving he was restrained in plastic wrap and only released to come to the dinner table, ABC 7 reported.
The boy said his father is the one who wraps and binds him most days, from his neck to his knees, securing him with zip ties or belts.
However he said his step-mother often assists.
When a nurse asked him what caused the blisters on his hands, the boy said his hands had been put in hot water.
According to the charging documents, the boy also has suicidal thoughts.
Both the father and step-mother were arrested and charged with first-degree child abuse.
While the bonds were originally set at $300,000 and $400,000, a judge lowered bonds to just $10,000 each.
The couple have since been released. Five other children - aged one, four, six, 12, and 17 - live in the home in Clarksburg with the two.
Officials are not saying whether the parents are allowed to be around the kids, citing privacy laws, but neighbors said they have not seen the couple at their home in weeks.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3431857/Couple-charged-child-abuse-dipping-hands-seven-year-old-hot-water-restraining-plastic-wrap-zip-ties.html
Couple charged with child abuse after 'dipping the hands of their seven-year-old in hot water and restraining him with plastic wrap and zip ties'
Craig and Nicole Williams, of Clarksburg, Maryland, have been charged with first-degree child abuse after their son was hospitalized
The boy suffered a possible seizure, abrasions, blisters and bruisers
He told doctors his parents restrained him with plastic wrap and ties The couple, who have five other children, allegedly admitted bounding him
By Dailymail.com Reporter
Published: 09:44 EST, 4 February 2016 | Updated: 19:32 EST, 4 February 2016
A father and stepfather in Maryland have been arrested and charged with child abuse after allegedly restraining their seven-year-old son with plastic wrap and zip ties and burning him with hot water.
Craig Anthoney Williams, 42, and Nicole Williams, 39, came under investigation after their son was taken to Shady Grove Hospital on December 2 with a possible seizure, multiple abrasions, blisters and bruises over his body and head.
He had to be airlifted Children's National Medical Center for further treatment.
The little boy told doctors that his parents often bound him to his bed all day with zip ties.
Both his father and stepmother admitted to the staff that they restrain him, ABC 7 reported.
His father said he had been using plastic wrap to contain the boy to his bed for about seven months, usually at bedtime.
The father also said he would notice urine and fecal matter on the boy when he checked on him in the morning.
When the hospital called police, the boy told investigators that on Thanksgiving he was restrained in plastic wrap and only released to come to the dinner table, ABC 7 reported.
The boy said his father is the one who wraps and binds him most days, from his neck to his knees, securing him with zip ties or belts.
However he said his step-mother often assists.
When a nurse asked him what caused the blisters on his hands, the boy said his hands had been put in hot water.
According to the charging documents, the boy also has suicidal thoughts.
Both the father and step-mother were arrested and charged with first-degree child abuse.
While the bonds were originally set at $300,000 and $400,000, a judge lowered bonds to just $10,000 each.
The couple have since been released. Five other children - aged one, four, six, 12, and 17 - live in the home in Clarksburg with the two.
Officials are not saying whether the parents are allowed to be around the kids, citing privacy laws, but neighbors said they have not seen the couple at their home in weeks.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Custodial dad, step go on trial for torture, murder of 5-year-old daughter (Port Huron, Michigan)
We've posted on custodial dad ANDREW MAISON before.
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Michigan.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3410210/Michigan-couple-accused-starving-girl-5-stand-trial.html
Father and stepmother who 'starved five-year-old daughter to just 25lbs before her death' go on trial accused of murder, torture and child abuse
Mackenzie Maison, five, died weighing just 25 pounds in May last year
She was 'extremely pale' when her 'lifeless' body was taken to hospital
Police officers said the young girl's body was bruised 'from head to toe'
Her father Andrew Maison and stepmother Hilery Maison are on trial
They are accused of murdering and torturing Mackenzie by starving her
Couple are also charged with abusing her and her three-year-old sister
By Ollie Gillman For Dailymail.com
Published: 09:01 EST, 21 January 2016 | Updated: 16:45 EST, 21 January 2016
A father and stepmother who allegedly starved their five-year-old daughter to death have gone on trial accused of murder, torture and child abuse.
Mackenzie Maison weighed just 25 pounds and was 'extremely pale' when her 'lifeless' body was carried out of her home in Port Huron, Michigan, on May 26 last year, a court heard.
Police officers who viewed Mackenzie's body after she died saw that she was bruised 'from head to toe', a jury was told.
Her father, Andrew Maison, and stepmother, Hilery Maison, face charges of child abuse, torture and murder, and are also accused of abusing Mackenzie's younger sister.
Prosecutor Mona Armstrong told a jury on Wednesday that they would hear 'a case about suffering, unimaginable suffering, that two young girls endured at the hands of the defendants'.
Mackenzie weighed 25 pounds on the day of her death, Armstrong said, the same weight she was when she was two years old.
The prosecuting attorney added that the girl's three-year-old sister was just 17 pounds when she was taken to the hospital that day and has since doubled in weight, the Times Herald reported.
Fireman Steven Conard was one of the first on the scene shortly after 8.30pm on the day Mackenzie died.
He told the court that Andrew Maison was attempting to give CPR to Mackenzie on the kitchen floor, but firefighters took her into an ambulance where they tried to revive her.
Conard said the father claimed he was giving his daughter a bath when she became unresponsive.
Paramedics tried to resuscitate Mackenzie in the ambulance but she was pronounced dead after arriving at St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron Hospital.
Detective Brian Kerrigan, who viewed Mackenzie's body after she died, was in court on Thursday and said he saw bruises on her body.
'It was obvious to me that there was a lot of bruising in different stages of healing on her body, basically from head to toe,' he said.
Police officer Andrew Teichow told the court on Wednesday that, after arriving at the hospital, he also spotted bruises on the girl's body.
'She was extremely thin. Her bones were coming out of her skin is what it looked like,' he said.
Fellow police officer James Morgan said cops spoke with the accused parents inside the home after Mackenzie was taken to hospital.
He said Mackenzie's three-year-old sister was one of three children sitting on a couch and that she appeared 'emaciated'.
'She seemed to have very low energy and spoke very quietly,' Morgan said, adding that she pointed to an empty glass and asked for milk.
The two other children in the room were Hilery Maison's biological children.
Andrew Maison's attorney, Frederick Lepley, said his client loved his children and that he was a hard-working father.
Michael Boucher, representing Hilery Maison, said Mackenzie and her three-year-old sister had underlying medical conditions and struggled to eat.
'Even with the biological mother, there were complaints about health problems,' he said.
Mackenzie's mother, Shelby Coffee - who is not standing trial - paid tribute to her daughter last year.
'She was five years old. She was the brightest little girl. Very independent, beautiful... and she was my world,' she told WJBK.
She added: 'Watch out for your kids. No matter what, no matter if you think you can trust each other or not. 'Make sure you watch out for your kids, because one day you can turn around and you'll be getting a phone call just like I did.'
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Michigan.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3410210/Michigan-couple-accused-starving-girl-5-stand-trial.html
Father and stepmother who 'starved five-year-old daughter to just 25lbs before her death' go on trial accused of murder, torture and child abuse
Mackenzie Maison, five, died weighing just 25 pounds in May last year
She was 'extremely pale' when her 'lifeless' body was taken to hospital
Police officers said the young girl's body was bruised 'from head to toe'
Her father Andrew Maison and stepmother Hilery Maison are on trial
They are accused of murdering and torturing Mackenzie by starving her
Couple are also charged with abusing her and her three-year-old sister
By Ollie Gillman For Dailymail.com
Published: 09:01 EST, 21 January 2016 | Updated: 16:45 EST, 21 January 2016
A father and stepmother who allegedly starved their five-year-old daughter to death have gone on trial accused of murder, torture and child abuse.
Mackenzie Maison weighed just 25 pounds and was 'extremely pale' when her 'lifeless' body was carried out of her home in Port Huron, Michigan, on May 26 last year, a court heard.
Police officers who viewed Mackenzie's body after she died saw that she was bruised 'from head to toe', a jury was told.
Her father, Andrew Maison, and stepmother, Hilery Maison, face charges of child abuse, torture and murder, and are also accused of abusing Mackenzie's younger sister.
Prosecutor Mona Armstrong told a jury on Wednesday that they would hear 'a case about suffering, unimaginable suffering, that two young girls endured at the hands of the defendants'.
Mackenzie weighed 25 pounds on the day of her death, Armstrong said, the same weight she was when she was two years old.
The prosecuting attorney added that the girl's three-year-old sister was just 17 pounds when she was taken to the hospital that day and has since doubled in weight, the Times Herald reported.
Fireman Steven Conard was one of the first on the scene shortly after 8.30pm on the day Mackenzie died.
He told the court that Andrew Maison was attempting to give CPR to Mackenzie on the kitchen floor, but firefighters took her into an ambulance where they tried to revive her.
Conard said the father claimed he was giving his daughter a bath when she became unresponsive.
Paramedics tried to resuscitate Mackenzie in the ambulance but she was pronounced dead after arriving at St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron Hospital.
Detective Brian Kerrigan, who viewed Mackenzie's body after she died, was in court on Thursday and said he saw bruises on her body.
'It was obvious to me that there was a lot of bruising in different stages of healing on her body, basically from head to toe,' he said.
Police officer Andrew Teichow told the court on Wednesday that, after arriving at the hospital, he also spotted bruises on the girl's body.
'She was extremely thin. Her bones were coming out of her skin is what it looked like,' he said.
Fellow police officer James Morgan said cops spoke with the accused parents inside the home after Mackenzie was taken to hospital.
He said Mackenzie's three-year-old sister was one of three children sitting on a couch and that she appeared 'emaciated'.
'She seemed to have very low energy and spoke very quietly,' Morgan said, adding that she pointed to an empty glass and asked for milk.
The two other children in the room were Hilery Maison's biological children.
Andrew Maison's attorney, Frederick Lepley, said his client loved his children and that he was a hard-working father.
Michael Boucher, representing Hilery Maison, said Mackenzie and her three-year-old sister had underlying medical conditions and struggled to eat.
'Even with the biological mother, there were complaints about health problems,' he said.
Mackenzie's mother, Shelby Coffee - who is not standing trial - paid tribute to her daughter last year.
'She was five years old. She was the brightest little girl. Very independent, beautiful... and she was my world,' she told WJBK.
She added: 'Watch out for your kids. No matter what, no matter if you think you can trust each other or not. 'Make sure you watch out for your kids, because one day you can turn around and you'll be getting a phone call just like I did.'
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Custodial dad gets probation for beating, starvation, imprisonment of 12-year-old son (Detroit, Michigan)
Seriously. how is this not torture? Typical of the kid glove treatment that abusive custodial fathers get in the legal system. We've posted on this case before. Dad is identified as CHARLIE BOTHUELL IV.
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/01/19/detroit-dad-pleads-gets-probation-in-case-of-boy-found-in-basement/
Detroit Dad Pleads, Gets Probation In Case Of Boy Found In Basement
January 19, 2016 1:07 PM
DETROIT (WWJ) – A Detroit dad accused of abusing his 12-year-old son and hiding him in the basement of their home has agreed to a plea deal.
Charlie Bothuell IV — father of Charlie Bothuell V, who was missing for 11 days in June, 2014 — pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a reduced charge of fourth degree child abuse.
Judge Margaret Van Houten immediately sentenced him to 18 months probation, although he could have served up to a year in jail.
He was also ordered to take anger management classes and to follow all terms set by the Wayne County Third Circuit Court Family Division and to have no contact with his son. Court costs and restitution will be determined in the future.
Bothuell IV and his wife, Monique Dillard-Bothuell, each were initially charged with second-degree child abuse and torture, but the torture charge was later dropped and Dillard-Bothuell’s case was dismissed.
The story made national headlines before the alleged victim was found hidden behind a heavy drum in the bowels of the townhome where he lived with his dad and stepmother.
The younger Bothuell testified about alleged abuse at the hands of the two, describing strenuous daily workouts, denial of food and beatings with a PVC pipe.
His father was giving an interview to cable TV host Nancy Grace when he learned that Charlie had been found by police. He expressed surprise and said he didn’t know his son was in the basement.
“I thought my son was dead,” Bothuell IV told reporters.
He fought for custody of the boy, now a teen, who was placed in the care of other family members.
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/01/19/detroit-dad-pleads-gets-probation-in-case-of-boy-found-in-basement/
Detroit Dad Pleads, Gets Probation In Case Of Boy Found In Basement
January 19, 2016 1:07 PM
DETROIT (WWJ) – A Detroit dad accused of abusing his 12-year-old son and hiding him in the basement of their home has agreed to a plea deal.
Charlie Bothuell IV — father of Charlie Bothuell V, who was missing for 11 days in June, 2014 — pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a reduced charge of fourth degree child abuse.
Judge Margaret Van Houten immediately sentenced him to 18 months probation, although he could have served up to a year in jail.
He was also ordered to take anger management classes and to follow all terms set by the Wayne County Third Circuit Court Family Division and to have no contact with his son. Court costs and restitution will be determined in the future.
Bothuell IV and his wife, Monique Dillard-Bothuell, each were initially charged with second-degree child abuse and torture, but the torture charge was later dropped and Dillard-Bothuell’s case was dismissed.
The story made national headlines before the alleged victim was found hidden behind a heavy drum in the bowels of the townhome where he lived with his dad and stepmother.
The younger Bothuell testified about alleged abuse at the hands of the two, describing strenuous daily workouts, denial of food and beatings with a PVC pipe.
His father was giving an interview to cable TV host Nancy Grace when he learned that Charlie had been found by police. He expressed surprise and said he didn’t know his son was in the basement.
“I thought my son was dead,” Bothuell IV told reporters.
He fought for custody of the boy, now a teen, who was placed in the care of other family members.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Custodial dad's "reign of terror" killed 17-year-old daughter, jury at "suitcase" murder trial hears (Toronto, Canada)
We've posted on dad EVERTON BIDDERSINGH before.
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Canada.
http://www.680news.com/2016/01/04/dads-reign-terror-killed-daughter-jury-suitcase-murder-trial-hears/
Dad's 'reign of terror' killed daughter, jury at 'suitcase' murder trial hears
Local National by Diana Mehta, The Canadian Press
Posted Jan 4, 2016 8:22 am EST Last Updated Jan 5, 2016 at 5:39 am EST
A father’s “reign of terror” reduced his daughter from a happy, healthy child to a starved, emotionally broken teen, ultimately killing her, a Crown prosecutor told a Toronto court Monday as he urged the jury to find the man guilty of first-degree murder.
Everton Biddersingh has pleaded not guilty in the death of 17-year-old Melonie, whose charred body was found in a burning suitcase 21 years ago.
“His reign of terror over Melonie ultimately resulted in her death,” Crown prosecutor Mary Humphrey said in closing arguments. “But for his actions or his omissions, Melonie would have been alive today. She would have been 38 years old.”
The case has taken two decades to get to trial because police weren’t able to identify Melonie’s remains until they received a tip that eventually led to the arrest of Biddersingh and his wife in March 2012.
The trial has heard that Melonie came to Canada from Jamaica with two brothers in 1991, when she was 13, to live with her father and stepmother.
Jurors have heard that the girl – who hoped to one day become a nurse – was not sent to school and suffered brutal beatings, food deprivation and gut-wrenching abuse at the hands of her father.
Melonie was treated like a slave, Humphrey said, and was “withering away” before her father’s eyes but he did not stop mistreating her.
“Everton took away everything from Melonie,” she said. “He took away her will to live.”
Biddersingh viewed his daughter as a “traitor” after he believed she once took her stepmother’s side during a marital dispute, Humphrey said.
He also used the girl as a free housekeeper, a caregiver for his other young children and an outlet for his anger towards his wife, Humphrey said.
Over the course of many months, Melonie was confined for hours in a tiny closet, had her head placed in a toilet that was flushed, was chained to the furniture at times, was denied food and was kicked, punched and thrown against walls by her father, the trial has heard.
“The evidence was clear that Everton had a real dislike for his daughter,” Humphrey said. “He told (Melonie’s older brother) Cleon he wished he had dropped her on the head as a baby.”
Melonie wasn’t taken to the hospital as her health deteriorated – despite her obviously frail body and the fact that she had trouble moving – because Biddersingh didn’t want anyone to detect that the girl had been abused, Humphrey said.
“He dominated her and he exploited her until her very last breath,” she said. “When she was no longer of any use to him he killed her or he caused her to die when she was unlawfully confined.”
While the exact cause of Melonie’s death is debatable – there are suggestions she may have drowned or merely starved to death – Humphrey told the jury there was no doubt that Biddersingh’s “planned and deliberate” actions caused his daughter to die.
“Melonie was a helpless 17-year-old girl who was starved, beaten, drowned or nearly drowned, stuffed into a suitcase and then set on fire by her father,” she said. “This was a cold, calculated, deliberate first-degree murder.”
After Melonie’s death, Humphrey told the jury, Biddersingh crammed his daughter into a suitcase, drove her to a remote area and set her on fire.
“He attempted to eliminate any evidence that she ever existed,” she said. “Burning her body shows a high degree of malice.”
The jury has heard that Biddersingh told friends and family, including Melonie’s brother and her biological mother, that the girl had run away from home. The jury was told that Melonie died on Sept. 1, 1994 and weighed only about 50 pounds at the time.
Expert evidence indicated Melonie was “grossly underweight” and had 21 “healing fractures” in her ribs, spine, pelvis, right knee and left ankle that were caused three weeks to six months before her death.
It also indicated that Melonie had inhaled water shortly before her death.
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Canada.
http://www.680news.com/2016/01/04/dads-reign-terror-killed-daughter-jury-suitcase-murder-trial-hears/
Dad's 'reign of terror' killed daughter, jury at 'suitcase' murder trial hears
Local National by Diana Mehta, The Canadian Press
Posted Jan 4, 2016 8:22 am EST Last Updated Jan 5, 2016 at 5:39 am EST
A father’s “reign of terror” reduced his daughter from a happy, healthy child to a starved, emotionally broken teen, ultimately killing her, a Crown prosecutor told a Toronto court Monday as he urged the jury to find the man guilty of first-degree murder.
Everton Biddersingh has pleaded not guilty in the death of 17-year-old Melonie, whose charred body was found in a burning suitcase 21 years ago.
“His reign of terror over Melonie ultimately resulted in her death,” Crown prosecutor Mary Humphrey said in closing arguments. “But for his actions or his omissions, Melonie would have been alive today. She would have been 38 years old.”
The case has taken two decades to get to trial because police weren’t able to identify Melonie’s remains until they received a tip that eventually led to the arrest of Biddersingh and his wife in March 2012.
The trial has heard that Melonie came to Canada from Jamaica with two brothers in 1991, when she was 13, to live with her father and stepmother.
Jurors have heard that the girl – who hoped to one day become a nurse – was not sent to school and suffered brutal beatings, food deprivation and gut-wrenching abuse at the hands of her father.
Melonie was treated like a slave, Humphrey said, and was “withering away” before her father’s eyes but he did not stop mistreating her.
“Everton took away everything from Melonie,” she said. “He took away her will to live.”
Biddersingh viewed his daughter as a “traitor” after he believed she once took her stepmother’s side during a marital dispute, Humphrey said.
He also used the girl as a free housekeeper, a caregiver for his other young children and an outlet for his anger towards his wife, Humphrey said.
Over the course of many months, Melonie was confined for hours in a tiny closet, had her head placed in a toilet that was flushed, was chained to the furniture at times, was denied food and was kicked, punched and thrown against walls by her father, the trial has heard.
“The evidence was clear that Everton had a real dislike for his daughter,” Humphrey said. “He told (Melonie’s older brother) Cleon he wished he had dropped her on the head as a baby.”
Melonie wasn’t taken to the hospital as her health deteriorated – despite her obviously frail body and the fact that she had trouble moving – because Biddersingh didn’t want anyone to detect that the girl had been abused, Humphrey said.
“He dominated her and he exploited her until her very last breath,” she said. “When she was no longer of any use to him he killed her or he caused her to die when she was unlawfully confined.”
While the exact cause of Melonie’s death is debatable – there are suggestions she may have drowned or merely starved to death – Humphrey told the jury there was no doubt that Biddersingh’s “planned and deliberate” actions caused his daughter to die.
“Melonie was a helpless 17-year-old girl who was starved, beaten, drowned or nearly drowned, stuffed into a suitcase and then set on fire by her father,” she said. “This was a cold, calculated, deliberate first-degree murder.”
After Melonie’s death, Humphrey told the jury, Biddersingh crammed his daughter into a suitcase, drove her to a remote area and set her on fire.
“He attempted to eliminate any evidence that she ever existed,” she said. “Burning her body shows a high degree of malice.”
The jury has heard that Biddersingh told friends and family, including Melonie’s brother and her biological mother, that the girl had run away from home. The jury was told that Melonie died on Sept. 1, 1994 and weighed only about 50 pounds at the time.
Expert evidence indicated Melonie was “grossly underweight” and had 21 “healing fractures” in her ribs, spine, pelvis, right knee and left ankle that were caused three weeks to six months before her death.
It also indicated that Melonie had inhaled water shortly before her death.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Congressman introduce "Talia's Law" after custodial dad kills 5-year-old daughter on military base--and avoids justice for 10 years (Honolulu, Hawaii)
There is a long backstory about how convicted killer dad NAEEM WILLIAMS managed to strip the protective mother of custody, abuse with impunity, and avoid going to trial for ten long years. Outrageous. Past posts on this case are here.
See the Killer Dads and Custody List for the State of Hawaii.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/talias-law-child-abuse-hawaii-military-bases_563b9fc2e4b0b24aee494b72
Hawaii Reps Introduce 'Talia's Law' To Prevent Child Abuse And Neglect On Military Bases Five-year-old Talia Williams was beaten to death by her Army father.
Chris D'Angelo Associate Editor, HuffPost Hawaii
Posted: 11/05/2015 06:26 PM EST | Edited: 11/05/2015 06:30 PM EST
HONOLULU -- Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and Mark Takai (D-Hawaii) introduced federal legislation this week aimed at better protecting children from abuse on military bases.
The proposed law is named after Talia Williams, a 5-year-old who was beaten to death in 2005 by her father, Naeem Williams, then an active-duty infantryman stationed in Hawaii.
The girl's murder reportedly came after months of torture and abuse by both her father and stepmother, Delilah Williams.
According to Delilah Williams' court testimony, Talia was denied food for days at a time, duct-taped to a bed and whipped, and kept out of daycare to hide physical signs of her beatings.
Naeem Williams' fatal blow, prosecutors said, left knuckle imprints on the child's chest.
Legal proceedings revealed that multiple federal employees, including military police and employees at her on-base child care facility, failed to report suspected signs of Talia’s abuse.
"Despite multiple reports to officials at the Army base in Hawaii where Talia and her father lived, the system failed to protect her," Gabbard said Tuesday during a speech on the House floor.
Tarshia Williams/AP Lawmakers introduced "Talia's Law" after five-year-old Talia Williams was beaten to death by her Army father.
Currently, military professionals who come into contact with children are required to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect to a military point of contact, who is then supposed to notify the state Child Protective Services.
"Talia's Law" would "close the communications gap that may exist," according to a release from Gabbard's office, by requiring military professionals to immediately report such cases directly to state Child Protective Services as well as their military point of contact.
"Talia's tragic story is just one of over 29,000 cases of child abuse and neglect in military homes over the last decade," Gabbard said on the House floor. "This is a problem that demands better protections for our children in military families who are being abused, and better support for military families facing the stresses of war, multiple deployments and economic hardship."
A 2013 investigation by the Army Times found 118 children of Army soldiers died in the previous decade due to child abuse or neglect, and more than 1,400 Army children were subjected to sexual abuse.
“Our military keiki (children) should never feel unsafe or neglected," Takai said in a statement. "I hope that through Talia's Law we make the necessary changes to protect these military families and their children."
U.S. Army/Associated Press Talia Williams' father, Naeem Williams, neglected and fatally punched his daughter, which prompted Hawaii lawmakers to introduce "Talia's Law."
In February, Naeem Williams was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his daughter, and narrowly escaped the death penalty.
Hawaii outlawed the death penalty in 1957, but since the crime took place on military property, the case was tried in federal court, where the death penalty is allowed.
It was the first death penalty case to go to trial in Hawaii since capital punishment was abolished in the territory.
Delilah Williams was sentenced to 20 years in prison as part of a plea agreement.
Talia Williams' biological mother, Tarshia Williams, began pushing for new legislation shortly after she was awarded a $2 million settlement from the U.S. government in May over the death of her daughter.
“I would love for this law to get passed so it can help another child not go through what my daughter went through,” Tarshia Williams said in June.
See the Killer Dads and Custody List for the State of Hawaii.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/talias-law-child-abuse-hawaii-military-bases_563b9fc2e4b0b24aee494b72
Hawaii Reps Introduce 'Talia's Law' To Prevent Child Abuse And Neglect On Military Bases Five-year-old Talia Williams was beaten to death by her Army father.
Chris D'Angelo Associate Editor, HuffPost Hawaii
Posted: 11/05/2015 06:26 PM EST | Edited: 11/05/2015 06:30 PM EST
HONOLULU -- Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and Mark Takai (D-Hawaii) introduced federal legislation this week aimed at better protecting children from abuse on military bases.
The proposed law is named after Talia Williams, a 5-year-old who was beaten to death in 2005 by her father, Naeem Williams, then an active-duty infantryman stationed in Hawaii.
The girl's murder reportedly came after months of torture and abuse by both her father and stepmother, Delilah Williams.
According to Delilah Williams' court testimony, Talia was denied food for days at a time, duct-taped to a bed and whipped, and kept out of daycare to hide physical signs of her beatings.
Naeem Williams' fatal blow, prosecutors said, left knuckle imprints on the child's chest.
Legal proceedings revealed that multiple federal employees, including military police and employees at her on-base child care facility, failed to report suspected signs of Talia’s abuse.
"Despite multiple reports to officials at the Army base in Hawaii where Talia and her father lived, the system failed to protect her," Gabbard said Tuesday during a speech on the House floor.
Tarshia Williams/AP Lawmakers introduced "Talia's Law" after five-year-old Talia Williams was beaten to death by her Army father.
Currently, military professionals who come into contact with children are required to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect to a military point of contact, who is then supposed to notify the state Child Protective Services.
"Talia's Law" would "close the communications gap that may exist," according to a release from Gabbard's office, by requiring military professionals to immediately report such cases directly to state Child Protective Services as well as their military point of contact.
"Talia's tragic story is just one of over 29,000 cases of child abuse and neglect in military homes over the last decade," Gabbard said on the House floor. "This is a problem that demands better protections for our children in military families who are being abused, and better support for military families facing the stresses of war, multiple deployments and economic hardship."
A 2013 investigation by the Army Times found 118 children of Army soldiers died in the previous decade due to child abuse or neglect, and more than 1,400 Army children were subjected to sexual abuse.
“Our military keiki (children) should never feel unsafe or neglected," Takai said in a statement. "I hope that through Talia's Law we make the necessary changes to protect these military families and their children."
U.S. Army/Associated Press Talia Williams' father, Naeem Williams, neglected and fatally punched his daughter, which prompted Hawaii lawmakers to introduce "Talia's Law."
In February, Naeem Williams was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his daughter, and narrowly escaped the death penalty.
Hawaii outlawed the death penalty in 1957, but since the crime took place on military property, the case was tried in federal court, where the death penalty is allowed.
It was the first death penalty case to go to trial in Hawaii since capital punishment was abolished in the territory.
Delilah Williams was sentenced to 20 years in prison as part of a plea agreement.
Talia Williams' biological mother, Tarshia Williams, began pushing for new legislation shortly after she was awarded a $2 million settlement from the U.S. government in May over the death of her daughter.
“I would love for this law to get passed so it can help another child not go through what my daughter went through,” Tarshia Williams said in June.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Custodial dad FINALLY goes to trial for 1994 torture-murder of 17-year-old daughter (Toronto, Canada)
The custodial dad is identified as EVERTON BIDDERSINGH.
There are an amazing number of cases like this. Poor mothers in imporverished countries who lose custody to fathers in the wealthier countries. Fathers who can presumably provide these children with a "better life." And the "better life" turns out to be torture and death.
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Canada.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/10/28/trial-starts-for-dad-charged-in-daughters-murder-after-body-found-in-suitcase.html
Melonie’s terrible last days unroll in courtroom as her father’s trial begins
The Crown outlines its case against Everton Biddersingh, whose daughter was found burned in a suitcase in 1991.
By:Rosie DiManno
Columnist, Published on Wed Oct 28 2015
Melonie Biddersingh came to Canada from Jamaica in early 1991 with nothing more than a single suitcase.
Whether this was the same suitcase in which her charred remains were found three years later, behind a Vaughan commercial building, is unknown.
The known details are gruesome: 21 healing fractures discovered on autopsy, when that pitiful corpse was examined by a coroner; weight of 50 pounds, far below the normal body index range for a 5-foot-2 teenager, indicating severe malnourishment; an ante-mortem — before death — head contusion that had resulted from trauma or blunt force injury; fluid in the nostrils and bone marrow, indicative of drowning as either a cause of death or major contributing factor — the liquid from a freshwater source, not tap water, perhaps pooling rain.
All of these details were related in a Toronto courtroom Wednesday, as the prosecution laid out its case against Melonie’s biological father.
To the death roll of Randal Dooley and Jeffrey Baldwin, children starved to death and grotesquely mistreated while alive, right in our midst, add now the name of this 17-year-old who lived and died with nobody taking notice.
All but held prisoner, the court was told, in a one-room apartment she shared with her father, her stepmother, two brothers, two half-brothers and, eventually, an infant half-sister for whom she was responsible. When the baby’s diaper needed changing, Melonie would be summoned with a buzzer.
She was not allowed to attend school, though furthering her education — her ambition to one day become a nurse — was the main reason Melonie had been excited about moving to Canada, leaving behind a mother and four other siblings, living in abject poverty in a slum shack.
The harshness of Melonie’s existence was only summarily outlined by Crown Attorney Anna Tenhouse in her opening address to the jury. The details here are all from that address:
At times, the teen was kept in a closet, “hidden from the outside world.”
She was made to shower on the balcony in summer, was at times locked out there as punishment, and forced to use a bucket to relieve herself.
She was called names like “the devil,” told that she’d brought evil to the family.
Made to sleep on a piece of cardboard on the living room floor, though there was a sofa bed nearby.
Had her head placed in the toilet and the toilet flushed, as punishment.
Was kicked and punched about her body, dragged by the hair and stomped upon.
Was at times chained to furniture.
Deprived of food, she became so weak she could no longer hold her baby sister. Enfeebled to the point that her older brother had to help her bathe after the girl urinated or defecated on herself.
That brother, Cleon, was allegedly forced to sell drugs and warned that, if he ever told anyone about it, or about the abuse in their home, “harm would come to him and his family in Jamaica,” Tenhouse told the jury.
Cleon got out by and by, ran away. Melonie’s other brother, Dwayne — 12 when he arrived in Toronto, a year younger than Melonie — died in an accident 17 months later.
Melonie died, court was told, on Sept. 1, 1994. This is not yet evidence. It is the prosecution’s claim.
But the photograph displayed on a screen in the courtroom — that’s evidence.
Blackened, curled into a pathetic heap of limbs, bits of singed hair still visible on the death scalp.
In the front row, Melonie’s mother, Opal Austin, choked on a sob and wept. Melonie’s sister, Racquel Ellis, was overcome: “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”
Who could do this terrible thing?
Melonie’s father, Everton Biddersingh, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. His wife, Elaine Biddersingh — Melonie’s stepmother — has also been charged with first-degree murder but will be tried separately next year.
On Aug. 31, 1994, Det. Steven Seabrook, then a constable with the canine unit of York Regional Police, was patrolling in the Highway 7 area when he noticed a plume of black smoke. He tracked it to a spot behind an industrial area. What he saw, at first, were flames a couple of metres high, emanating from a pile close to a garbage bin. At the base of the fire was a tire, largely melted — source of the black smoke, from the burning rubber.
The heat was so intense Seabrook could come no closer than 4 or 5 metres.
Another officer arrived with a fire extinguisher, but that only put the blaze out temporarily. The flames sprung back.
Next came the firefighters, who were able to douse the pyre with water. And then they all saw, amidst the charred heap, a grisly sight.
“At that point, it was obvious to us there was a body lying on the tire, in the fetal position. No flesh on the legs, the head was very black and charred,’’ Seabrook testified yesterday. “I noticed a metal square shape around the body, looked like the frame of a suitcase.’’
The Suitcase Girl, as she became known in the media, once it was determined that the corpse was female.
No name. And no one came forward with information about a missing teenage girl.
Those with long memories may recall, as the years went by, the occasional press conferences as police continued attempts to identify her. The artist’s depiction of how she may have looked. The forensic sculpture of a female head, which triggered no public recognition either.
They never gave up but they never came close to solving the mystery.
Eighteen years would pass, longer than the length and breadth of Melonie’s sad life.
And then, as Tenhouse told court, the secret was exposed, the plotline that police have never revealed. On Dec. 11, 2011, Elaine Biddersingh confessed to her pastor, court heard, that the girl in the suitcase was her step-daughter. The minister took that information to police, and the Toronto Police cold case unit took carriage of the matter.
Opal Austin, living in Jamaica, was contacted. For nearly 20 years she had wondered what had become of her daughter and sought information. Everton Biddersingh told her Melonie had run away to New York.
DNA from the mother was matched to The Suitcase Girl, confirming her identity. She had a name. She claimed her history.
Outside court, Racquel Ellis told reporters: “It’s like the hole of my belly button dropped out. I couldn’t breathe. I had to come out of the courtroom. It’s like my heart was going to stop beating.’’
Everton and Elaine Biddersingh were arrested on March 5, 2012, in Welland, Ont.
Yesterday, the father never appeared to even once glance at the mother of their dead and desecrated daughter.
Melonie.
Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
There are an amazing number of cases like this. Poor mothers in imporverished countries who lose custody to fathers in the wealthier countries. Fathers who can presumably provide these children with a "better life." And the "better life" turns out to be torture and death.
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Canada.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/10/28/trial-starts-for-dad-charged-in-daughters-murder-after-body-found-in-suitcase.html
Melonie’s terrible last days unroll in courtroom as her father’s trial begins
The Crown outlines its case against Everton Biddersingh, whose daughter was found burned in a suitcase in 1991.
By:Rosie DiManno
Columnist, Published on Wed Oct 28 2015
Melonie Biddersingh came to Canada from Jamaica in early 1991 with nothing more than a single suitcase.
Whether this was the same suitcase in which her charred remains were found three years later, behind a Vaughan commercial building, is unknown.
The known details are gruesome: 21 healing fractures discovered on autopsy, when that pitiful corpse was examined by a coroner; weight of 50 pounds, far below the normal body index range for a 5-foot-2 teenager, indicating severe malnourishment; an ante-mortem — before death — head contusion that had resulted from trauma or blunt force injury; fluid in the nostrils and bone marrow, indicative of drowning as either a cause of death or major contributing factor — the liquid from a freshwater source, not tap water, perhaps pooling rain.
All of these details were related in a Toronto courtroom Wednesday, as the prosecution laid out its case against Melonie’s biological father.
To the death roll of Randal Dooley and Jeffrey Baldwin, children starved to death and grotesquely mistreated while alive, right in our midst, add now the name of this 17-year-old who lived and died with nobody taking notice.
All but held prisoner, the court was told, in a one-room apartment she shared with her father, her stepmother, two brothers, two half-brothers and, eventually, an infant half-sister for whom she was responsible. When the baby’s diaper needed changing, Melonie would be summoned with a buzzer.
She was not allowed to attend school, though furthering her education — her ambition to one day become a nurse — was the main reason Melonie had been excited about moving to Canada, leaving behind a mother and four other siblings, living in abject poverty in a slum shack.
The harshness of Melonie’s existence was only summarily outlined by Crown Attorney Anna Tenhouse in her opening address to the jury. The details here are all from that address:
At times, the teen was kept in a closet, “hidden from the outside world.”
She was made to shower on the balcony in summer, was at times locked out there as punishment, and forced to use a bucket to relieve herself.
She was called names like “the devil,” told that she’d brought evil to the family.
Made to sleep on a piece of cardboard on the living room floor, though there was a sofa bed nearby.
Had her head placed in the toilet and the toilet flushed, as punishment.
Was kicked and punched about her body, dragged by the hair and stomped upon.
Was at times chained to furniture.
Deprived of food, she became so weak she could no longer hold her baby sister. Enfeebled to the point that her older brother had to help her bathe after the girl urinated or defecated on herself.
That brother, Cleon, was allegedly forced to sell drugs and warned that, if he ever told anyone about it, or about the abuse in their home, “harm would come to him and his family in Jamaica,” Tenhouse told the jury.
Cleon got out by and by, ran away. Melonie’s other brother, Dwayne — 12 when he arrived in Toronto, a year younger than Melonie — died in an accident 17 months later.
Melonie died, court was told, on Sept. 1, 1994. This is not yet evidence. It is the prosecution’s claim.
But the photograph displayed on a screen in the courtroom — that’s evidence.
Blackened, curled into a pathetic heap of limbs, bits of singed hair still visible on the death scalp.
In the front row, Melonie’s mother, Opal Austin, choked on a sob and wept. Melonie’s sister, Racquel Ellis, was overcome: “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”
Who could do this terrible thing?
Melonie’s father, Everton Biddersingh, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. His wife, Elaine Biddersingh — Melonie’s stepmother — has also been charged with first-degree murder but will be tried separately next year.
On Aug. 31, 1994, Det. Steven Seabrook, then a constable with the canine unit of York Regional Police, was patrolling in the Highway 7 area when he noticed a plume of black smoke. He tracked it to a spot behind an industrial area. What he saw, at first, were flames a couple of metres high, emanating from a pile close to a garbage bin. At the base of the fire was a tire, largely melted — source of the black smoke, from the burning rubber.
The heat was so intense Seabrook could come no closer than 4 or 5 metres.
Another officer arrived with a fire extinguisher, but that only put the blaze out temporarily. The flames sprung back.
Next came the firefighters, who were able to douse the pyre with water. And then they all saw, amidst the charred heap, a grisly sight.
“At that point, it was obvious to us there was a body lying on the tire, in the fetal position. No flesh on the legs, the head was very black and charred,’’ Seabrook testified yesterday. “I noticed a metal square shape around the body, looked like the frame of a suitcase.’’
The Suitcase Girl, as she became known in the media, once it was determined that the corpse was female.
No name. And no one came forward with information about a missing teenage girl.
Those with long memories may recall, as the years went by, the occasional press conferences as police continued attempts to identify her. The artist’s depiction of how she may have looked. The forensic sculpture of a female head, which triggered no public recognition either.
They never gave up but they never came close to solving the mystery.
Eighteen years would pass, longer than the length and breadth of Melonie’s sad life.
And then, as Tenhouse told court, the secret was exposed, the plotline that police have never revealed. On Dec. 11, 2011, Elaine Biddersingh confessed to her pastor, court heard, that the girl in the suitcase was her step-daughter. The minister took that information to police, and the Toronto Police cold case unit took carriage of the matter.
Opal Austin, living in Jamaica, was contacted. For nearly 20 years she had wondered what had become of her daughter and sought information. Everton Biddersingh told her Melonie had run away to New York.
DNA from the mother was matched to The Suitcase Girl, confirming her identity. She had a name. She claimed her history.
Outside court, Racquel Ellis told reporters: “It’s like the hole of my belly button dropped out. I couldn’t breathe. I had to come out of the courtroom. It’s like my heart was going to stop beating.’’
Everton and Elaine Biddersingh were arrested on March 5, 2012, in Welland, Ont.
Yesterday, the father never appeared to even once glance at the mother of their dead and desecrated daughter.
Melonie.
Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Custodial dad wants new venue, separate trial in torture-murder of 5-year-old daughter (Port Huron, Michigan)
The custodial dad is identified as ANDREW MAISON. We've posted on this case before. According to previous posts, dad legally speaking had joint custody, but shut off the mother's contact. Of course, the authorities don't object when the daddy does that--just the mom.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2015/10/13/father-wants-new-venue-separate-trial-death-girl-5/73858972/
Father wants new venue, separate trial in death of girl, 5
Beth LeBlanc, Times Herald 4:51 p.m. EDT October 13, 2015
A Port Huron father is asking to be tried separately from his wife in the death of his 5-year-old daughter.
Frederick Lepley, Andrew Maison’s lawyer, states in the motion that his client would not receive a fair trial if he were tried alongside Hilery Maison.
“The Defendant Andrew Maison worked long hours outside the home, and left the child care duties relating to nutrition, medical care and discipline primarily to his wife,” the motion states. “…
Defendant Andrew Maison would be substantially prejudiced if he is tried with his co-defendant.
There is a high risk that a jury could hold him responsible for the neglect or abuse perpetrated by his wife.”
Mackenzie was found unresponsive at the Maisons’ Oak Street home May 26 after her stepmother, Hilery Maison, called 911.
Mackenzie was pronounced dead at the hospital. Police said she was malnourished, dehydrated and had pneumonia. She weighed 25 pounds.
Her 3-year-old sister, Makayla, was taken to the hospital for treatment of malnourishment. She weighed 17 pounds.
Hilery and Andrew Maison are facing charges of murder, two counts of torture and two counts of first-degree child abuse in Mackenzie’s death and Makayla’s alleged abuse.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said the prosecutor’s office will oppose the request for separate trials.
“There really is no factual basis to support the request,” Armstrong said.
While there are circumstances that lead to separate trials for co-defendants, Armstrong said she doesn’t believe those circumstances apply in the Maisons' case.
Lepley also filed a motion for a change of venue Monday. The motion argues that demonstrators outside the courthouse, people wearing shirts demanding justice during the preliminary examination and media coverage of the case could prejudice jurors.
Lepley asks that either the venue is changed or those factors are considered during jury selection.
“…Potential jurors cannot, under the circumstances, be expected to remain impartial in light of the barrage of media coverage and social media posts that depict the Defendant as the person responsible for the death and or abuse,” the motion states.
Michael Boucher, Hilery Maison’s lawyer, also filed several motions last week, including one for a change of venue due to media coverage and negative community sentiment toward the Maisons.
The motions filed on behalf of Andrew and Hilery Maison will be discussed during an Oct. 19 hearing.
Boucher said he doesn't intend to file for a separate trial for Hilery Maison.
"We maintain that there is potentially an organic cause of this problem," Boucher said. "I have no intention of maintaining that one party is more responsible than the other.”
During a hearing Monday, Boucher and Lepley said they had located a pathologist who could possibly testify about other disorders or diseases that could have caused Mackenzie's death and Makayla's low weight and weakness.
They asked Circuit Judge Daniel Kelly to delay the trial to after March 1 to explore the possibility of other contributing causes. Kelly denied the request. The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 3.
Calls to Lepley were not immediately returned.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2015/10/13/father-wants-new-venue-separate-trial-death-girl-5/73858972/
Father wants new venue, separate trial in death of girl, 5
Beth LeBlanc, Times Herald 4:51 p.m. EDT October 13, 2015
A Port Huron father is asking to be tried separately from his wife in the death of his 5-year-old daughter.
Frederick Lepley, Andrew Maison’s lawyer, states in the motion that his client would not receive a fair trial if he were tried alongside Hilery Maison.
“The Defendant Andrew Maison worked long hours outside the home, and left the child care duties relating to nutrition, medical care and discipline primarily to his wife,” the motion states. “…
Defendant Andrew Maison would be substantially prejudiced if he is tried with his co-defendant.
There is a high risk that a jury could hold him responsible for the neglect or abuse perpetrated by his wife.”
Mackenzie was found unresponsive at the Maisons’ Oak Street home May 26 after her stepmother, Hilery Maison, called 911.
Mackenzie was pronounced dead at the hospital. Police said she was malnourished, dehydrated and had pneumonia. She weighed 25 pounds.
Her 3-year-old sister, Makayla, was taken to the hospital for treatment of malnourishment. She weighed 17 pounds.
Hilery and Andrew Maison are facing charges of murder, two counts of torture and two counts of first-degree child abuse in Mackenzie’s death and Makayla’s alleged abuse.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said the prosecutor’s office will oppose the request for separate trials.
“There really is no factual basis to support the request,” Armstrong said.
While there are circumstances that lead to separate trials for co-defendants, Armstrong said she doesn’t believe those circumstances apply in the Maisons' case.
Lepley also filed a motion for a change of venue Monday. The motion argues that demonstrators outside the courthouse, people wearing shirts demanding justice during the preliminary examination and media coverage of the case could prejudice jurors.
Lepley asks that either the venue is changed or those factors are considered during jury selection.
“…Potential jurors cannot, under the circumstances, be expected to remain impartial in light of the barrage of media coverage and social media posts that depict the Defendant as the person responsible for the death and or abuse,” the motion states.
Michael Boucher, Hilery Maison’s lawyer, also filed several motions last week, including one for a change of venue due to media coverage and negative community sentiment toward the Maisons.
The motions filed on behalf of Andrew and Hilery Maison will be discussed during an Oct. 19 hearing.
Boucher said he doesn't intend to file for a separate trial for Hilery Maison.
"We maintain that there is potentially an organic cause of this problem," Boucher said. "I have no intention of maintaining that one party is more responsible than the other.”
During a hearing Monday, Boucher and Lepley said they had located a pathologist who could possibly testify about other disorders or diseases that could have caused Mackenzie's death and Makayla's low weight and weakness.
They asked Circuit Judge Daniel Kelly to delay the trial to after March 1 to explore the possibility of other contributing causes. Kelly denied the request. The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 3.
Calls to Lepley were not immediately returned.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Dad sentenced to 50 years for rape, torture-murder of 19-day-old daughter (Newhall, California)
Since Daddy apparently raped the baby before or after killing her, not sure why this doesn't qualify as a "special circumstance" murder eligible for the death penalty.
Dad is identified as MATTHEW BRENDAN WARNER.
http://www.signalscv.com/section/36/article/143258/
UPDATE: Newhall father sentenced to 50 years to life for murder of newborn daughter
By Jim Holt
Signal Senior Staff Writer
Posted: October 6, 2015 1:53 p.m. Updated: October 6, 2015 4:03 p.m.
As expected, a Newhall man who last month pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in the death of his 19-day-old daughter was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years to life in state prison, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said.
Matthew Brendan Warner, 30, of Newhall, appeared Tuesday in San Fernando Superior Court where he was sentenced, but not until he heard from the dead girl’s mother and grandmother, Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer told The Signal Tuesday.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Walgren heard victim impact statements from Ellorah Rose Warner’s mother and grandmother before sentencing.
“They talked about the loss Ellorah’s death has had on them,” Kramer said outside the courtroom. “It was very emotional,” she said. “The mother said she’s never going to get a chance to pick out a Halloween costume for her daughter.
“She talked about Thanksgiving and Christmas. She said she would never be able to take her to meet Santa,” Kramer said.
“The girl’s grandmother told the court that she wore a locket and that Ellorah’s hair was in the locket, and that it was only thing she would ever have of her granddaughter,” she said. “She said the loss was something she would carry with her forever.”
Warner entered a no contest plea last month to one count of first-degree murder and admitted a prior strike conviction.
He killed Ellorah Warner at their home in Newhall while the baby’s mother was at work on Jan. 23, Kramer said.
He then claimed the newborn had been kidnapped and a search was launched to find her, she said.
Warner eventually led authorities to the victim’s body, which he had hidden in the cab of a truck parked in a nearby parking lot.
After his arrest, Warner faced charges of assault of a child causing death, torture, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child under 10 years old, and aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Those charges were dismissed as part of his negotiated settlement, DA spokesman Ricardo Santiago said last month.
Warner “was charged with first-degree murder, not a special circumstance murder,” so the death penalty was not considered in the case, Santiago said. “In California only murders with a specific set of special circumstance allegations (are) eligible for the death penalty,” he said.
Those can include murders committed during a robbery or rape, or if someone has committed multiple murders.
Dad is identified as MATTHEW BRENDAN WARNER.
http://www.signalscv.com/section/36/article/143258/
UPDATE: Newhall father sentenced to 50 years to life for murder of newborn daughter
By Jim Holt
Signal Senior Staff Writer
Posted: October 6, 2015 1:53 p.m. Updated: October 6, 2015 4:03 p.m.
As expected, a Newhall man who last month pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in the death of his 19-day-old daughter was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years to life in state prison, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said.
Matthew Brendan Warner, 30, of Newhall, appeared Tuesday in San Fernando Superior Court where he was sentenced, but not until he heard from the dead girl’s mother and grandmother, Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer told The Signal Tuesday.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Walgren heard victim impact statements from Ellorah Rose Warner’s mother and grandmother before sentencing.
“They talked about the loss Ellorah’s death has had on them,” Kramer said outside the courtroom. “It was very emotional,” she said. “The mother said she’s never going to get a chance to pick out a Halloween costume for her daughter.
“She talked about Thanksgiving and Christmas. She said she would never be able to take her to meet Santa,” Kramer said.
“The girl’s grandmother told the court that she wore a locket and that Ellorah’s hair was in the locket, and that it was only thing she would ever have of her granddaughter,” she said. “She said the loss was something she would carry with her forever.”
Warner entered a no contest plea last month to one count of first-degree murder and admitted a prior strike conviction.
He killed Ellorah Warner at their home in Newhall while the baby’s mother was at work on Jan. 23, Kramer said.
He then claimed the newborn had been kidnapped and a search was launched to find her, she said.
Warner eventually led authorities to the victim’s body, which he had hidden in the cab of a truck parked in a nearby parking lot.
After his arrest, Warner faced charges of assault of a child causing death, torture, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child under 10 years old, and aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Those charges were dismissed as part of his negotiated settlement, DA spokesman Ricardo Santiago said last month.
Warner “was charged with first-degree murder, not a special circumstance murder,” so the death penalty was not considered in the case, Santiago said. “In California only murders with a specific set of special circumstance allegations (are) eligible for the death penalty,” he said.
Those can include murders committed during a robbery or rape, or if someone has committed multiple murders.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Dad convicted of sexual torture, rape of sons; gets reduced sentenced as justices feared "crushing" him (Brisbane, Australia)
Golly, we wouldn't want to "crush" this poor dear with a longer prison sentence, would we?
Talk about misplaced sympathies...
UNNAMED DAD
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/grotesque-father-jailed-for-raping-sexually-torturing-his-sons-as-children-and-adults/story-fnihsrk2-1227541735717
‘Grotesque’ father jailed for raping, sexually torturing his sons as children and adults September 23, 2015 9:05pm
Sean Fewster The Advertiser
A MAN who forced his wife and sons to live a “grotesque” transient lifestyle so he could sexually torture them without fear of exposure deserves 43 years in jail, a court says.
In a judgment published online, the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned a minimum eight-year jail term imposed, by the District Court, upon the man for his crimes.
Justices Tom Gray, John Sulan and David Lovell unanimously agreed the man deserved to serve 43 years, but reduced that term to 20 years so as not to “crush” him.
They noted that, even with the reduction, their decision makes it possible the man, 67, will die in jail.
“He deliberately subjected his family to a nomadic existence (and) purposely isolated them so his acts of physical and sexual abuse could be committed without fear of exposure,” they said.
“The offending involved repeated sexual abuse when (his son) was a child ... he was then subject to rape on two occasions when an adult ... (the man) acted to reassert his dominance.
“In our view, the penalty imposed ... inadequate, and manifestly so, considering the grotesque circumstances of this case.”
The man, whose identity is suppressed, was convicted of the persistent sexual exploitation of his two sons, as well as raping each of them after they became adults.
When he appealed against his conviction and sentence, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions argued his penalty was too lenient and should be increased.
In their judgment, Justices Gray, Sulan and Lovell rejected the man’s appeal, saying his offending occurred against “a backdrop” of “subjugation and control”.
They said the man’s offending began in the 1970s, when he constantly moved his family between states to prevent them forming social ties or obtaining proper educations.
He would force his sons to dress in their mother’s clothing before sexually assaulting them, sometimes tying them up or using objects to abuse them.
“He abused his family physically, sexually, emotionally and financially,” they said. “It was frequent, violent and punitive ... it became more violent when the complainants tried to resist his sexual advances.”
They said the offending continued through to 2006, when the sons were in their early 30s.
Justices Gray, Sulan and Lovell agreed with prosecutors that the original sentencing judge should not have allowed the man to serve some of his jail time concurrently.
They said concurrency should not have been employed when some of the offences were against the sons as children, and others after they were adults.
They said his crimes against one son warranted a 26-year term, with a further 17 years for the offending against his other son.
“If the above sentences were imposed, he would face a total term of imprisonment of 43 years ... such a lengthy term of imprisonment would be crushing,” they said.
“In the circumstances, the principle of totality should be applied to avoid a crushing result.
“We sentence the defendant to one term of 20 years and fix a non-parole period of 12 years.”
Talk about misplaced sympathies...
UNNAMED DAD
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/grotesque-father-jailed-for-raping-sexually-torturing-his-sons-as-children-and-adults/story-fnihsrk2-1227541735717
‘Grotesque’ father jailed for raping, sexually torturing his sons as children and adults September 23, 2015 9:05pm
Sean Fewster The Advertiser
A MAN who forced his wife and sons to live a “grotesque” transient lifestyle so he could sexually torture them without fear of exposure deserves 43 years in jail, a court says.
In a judgment published online, the Court of Criminal Appeal overturned a minimum eight-year jail term imposed, by the District Court, upon the man for his crimes.
Justices Tom Gray, John Sulan and David Lovell unanimously agreed the man deserved to serve 43 years, but reduced that term to 20 years so as not to “crush” him.
They noted that, even with the reduction, their decision makes it possible the man, 67, will die in jail.
“He deliberately subjected his family to a nomadic existence (and) purposely isolated them so his acts of physical and sexual abuse could be committed without fear of exposure,” they said.
“The offending involved repeated sexual abuse when (his son) was a child ... he was then subject to rape on two occasions when an adult ... (the man) acted to reassert his dominance.
“In our view, the penalty imposed ... inadequate, and manifestly so, considering the grotesque circumstances of this case.”
The man, whose identity is suppressed, was convicted of the persistent sexual exploitation of his two sons, as well as raping each of them after they became adults.
When he appealed against his conviction and sentence, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions argued his penalty was too lenient and should be increased.
In their judgment, Justices Gray, Sulan and Lovell rejected the man’s appeal, saying his offending occurred against “a backdrop” of “subjugation and control”.
They said the man’s offending began in the 1970s, when he constantly moved his family between states to prevent them forming social ties or obtaining proper educations.
He would force his sons to dress in their mother’s clothing before sexually assaulting them, sometimes tying them up or using objects to abuse them.
“He abused his family physically, sexually, emotionally and financially,” they said. “It was frequent, violent and punitive ... it became more violent when the complainants tried to resist his sexual advances.”
They said the offending continued through to 2006, when the sons were in their early 30s.
Justices Gray, Sulan and Lovell agreed with prosecutors that the original sentencing judge should not have allowed the man to serve some of his jail time concurrently.
They said concurrency should not have been employed when some of the offences were against the sons as children, and others after they were adults.
They said his crimes against one son warranted a 26-year term, with a further 17 years for the offending against his other son.
“If the above sentences were imposed, he would face a total term of imprisonment of 43 years ... such a lengthy term of imprisonment would be crushing,” they said.
“In the circumstances, the principle of totality should be applied to avoid a crushing result.
“We sentence the defendant to one term of 20 years and fix a non-parole period of 12 years.”
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Custodial dad, step "really sorry" about torture-murder of 6-year-old daughter (Calgary, Canada)
True to our Dastardly Dad axiom: A killer's dad's custodial status is neatly "forgotten" by the time he goes to trial. Though you wouldn't know it here, dad SPENCER JORDAN had primary custody of this murdered child. See our previous posts.
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Canada.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/child-killers-face-no-chance-of-parole-for-21-years-for-torture-slaying
Couple apologizes before getting life for causing death of Meika Jordan, 6
Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald
Published on: September 18, 2015 | Last Updated: September 18, 2015 9:15 PM MDT
An apology by the father and stepmother of Meika Jordan, convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced on Friday to life with no parole for 17 years for the torture death of the six-year-old girl, was far past due, say the girl’s mother and stepfather.
“I thought it was too little, too late, something that should have happened four years ago,” the girl’s mother Kyla Woodhouse said outside court.
“When it comes down to it, it was decent of them to offer that to us. It’s a little bit of closure on our end to see them show some emotion and humanity out of this. But in no way do we accept it. It’s nothing people can apologize for.”
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Rosemary Nation said in sentencing the girl’s father Spencer Jordan, 28, and stepmother Marie Magoon, 26, that it was difficult to fathom how someone could do such heinous acts to a child.
“Words cannot describe the egregious nature of this crime,” she said. “That a parent and caregiver can abuse a child in such a way is horrendous. Children are our most prized … they are our future.”
Jordan and Magoon earlier told a courtroom packed with family and friends of the girl that they were sorry for the trauma they caused as a result of the fatal injuries they inflicted on Meika over the Nov. 10-13, 2011, weekend.
“I’m sorry, but sorry doesn’t bring her back,” Spencer Jordan, 28, told the girl’s family and friends, his voice cracking. “Sorry doesn’t bring her back, but I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry her brothers and sisters will not see her grow up.
“The victim is not me. (Meika) died in my care, under my roof. It’s my responsibility. I loved Meika, I still do and I miss her every single day. If I could bring her back, I would …”
Magoon, 26, was also emotional in reading her written statement.
“I’m really sorry for all the pain and suffering I caused,” she said. “It bothers me every day that I failed her. I really am sorry. I feel a lot of shame and I deeply regret my actions.
“My actions were painful, cruel and unforgivable. There are no excuses for my irresponsible behaviour. I wish I could take it all back. I have a great deal of remorse. I will do everything in my power to get better. I’m really sorry, Kyla, for taking your baby away. She was a beautiful soul.”
Before reading their statements, the couple listened intently as Kyla and Brian Woodhouse, Kyla’s sister Brittany Pinnell, Meika’s grandfather Kevin Kushner, and step-grandmother Heather Grady read their gut-wrenching victim impact statements.
“How does anyone put into words the loss of a child, my child, my baby girl,” a sobbing Kyla Woodhouse said. “Words cannot express the pain and loss, the sorrow and anguish, the sheer devastation myself and family have experienced these last few years without our Meika.
“I will never again get to see her smile, hear her laugh or watch her play, never get to meet her best friends or boyfriends, teach her how to do makeup or accessorize an outfit,” Woodhouse said.
“These things have been stolen from me in the worst way possible, by someone I once trusted. The feelings that run through me every day, I have to try to forgive and forget but the truth is I will never forget. I will not let her death be in vain.” Brian Woodhouse said Jordan and Magoon forced him to live through a parents’ worst nightmare, to receive the news in the middle of the night from officers at the door telling them of their child’s horrific injuries.
“But what you continued to do was much worse, so heinous and selfish,” he said. “You forced us to stand with you as we said our final goodbye and listened to her heart take its final beat. You forced us to allow you to be part of the decision making in the funeral for the child you murdered, sharing with you our day of grief and having to look into your faces as I stood before all and said our final goodbye that you forced us to have to say.”
Outside court, he told reporters he was pleased with the sentence, in that their kids will be of legal age before the killers can get out of prison and are able to look at anybody again.
“To know everything we went through didn’t fall on deaf ears and the judge heard our pleas, to know our side of things, is satisfying,” Brian Woodhouse said.
Crown prosecutors Susan Pepper and Hyatt Mograbee, who sought a sentence without parole for 21 years, were nevertheless content with the judge’s reasons.
“When a person is convicted, as they were convicted of murdering a child while in a position of trust, that brings up the sentence,” Mograbee said. “The sentence was within the range we proposed.”
Pepper said the case has been a long, arduous ordeal, and it is a relief for everybody.
“We were privileged to work with some many excellent people — police, experts, other citizens,” said Pepper. “But we want to acknowledge how grateful this has been for family — Kyla, Brian, family and friends. They’ve been here every step of the way. We hope they have happier times and bring an end to a horrible chapter in their lives.”
Pepper earlier told the judge that Meika Jordan’s death “involved abuse and suffering of a child at the hands of Jordan and Magoon over a long period of time.
“The court found as fact that Meika Jordan sustained head injuries, abdominal injuries, multiple bruises and abrasions when she was dragged over various surfaces, pulled up the stairs by her hair, she was missing hair, and had a burn on her hand from being held over a lighter.”
She also said the couple’s attempt to cover up the crime and failing to call 911 until it was too late are both aggravating factors that call for a longer prison sentence.
Magoon’s lawyer, Allan Fay, agreed with the Crown that his client deserved to spend more than the minimum required time in prison before becoming eligible for parole. But he said 13 to 15 years was appropriate.
“This case falls into the spectrum of horrendousness,” Fay added. “It’s hard for any of us to fathom how this could come to be. My client appreciates the tremendous trauma the family has suffered because of this incident. She acknowledges the feelings they have on her.”
Jordan’s lawyer Mitch Stephensen said his client, obviously, was “not the best father, but not for lack of trying.” #He sought a parole ineligibility period of 10 to 12 years.
“He wasn’t a cruel dad,” he said. “Mr. Jordan loved his daughter, too. He’s a victim here. You can blame him, but no one blames him more than himself.”
Stephensen noted that the judge, in convicting the parents of second-degree murder, decided they did not have the intent to kill, only that they recklessly caused the child’s injuries.
Jordan and Magoon faced first-degree murder charges at the start of trial, but the judge convicted them of the lesser charge, which draws a parole period of 10 to 25 years.
Had they been convicted of first-degree murder, they would have been handed automatic life terms without parole for 25 years.
See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Canada.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/child-killers-face-no-chance-of-parole-for-21-years-for-torture-slaying
Couple apologizes before getting life for causing death of Meika Jordan, 6
Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald
Published on: September 18, 2015 | Last Updated: September 18, 2015 9:15 PM MDT
An apology by the father and stepmother of Meika Jordan, convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced on Friday to life with no parole for 17 years for the torture death of the six-year-old girl, was far past due, say the girl’s mother and stepfather.
“I thought it was too little, too late, something that should have happened four years ago,” the girl’s mother Kyla Woodhouse said outside court.
“When it comes down to it, it was decent of them to offer that to us. It’s a little bit of closure on our end to see them show some emotion and humanity out of this. But in no way do we accept it. It’s nothing people can apologize for.”
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Rosemary Nation said in sentencing the girl’s father Spencer Jordan, 28, and stepmother Marie Magoon, 26, that it was difficult to fathom how someone could do such heinous acts to a child.
“Words cannot describe the egregious nature of this crime,” she said. “That a parent and caregiver can abuse a child in such a way is horrendous. Children are our most prized … they are our future.”
Jordan and Magoon earlier told a courtroom packed with family and friends of the girl that they were sorry for the trauma they caused as a result of the fatal injuries they inflicted on Meika over the Nov. 10-13, 2011, weekend.
“I’m sorry, but sorry doesn’t bring her back,” Spencer Jordan, 28, told the girl’s family and friends, his voice cracking. “Sorry doesn’t bring her back, but I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry her brothers and sisters will not see her grow up.
“The victim is not me. (Meika) died in my care, under my roof. It’s my responsibility. I loved Meika, I still do and I miss her every single day. If I could bring her back, I would …”
Magoon, 26, was also emotional in reading her written statement.
“I’m really sorry for all the pain and suffering I caused,” she said. “It bothers me every day that I failed her. I really am sorry. I feel a lot of shame and I deeply regret my actions.
“My actions were painful, cruel and unforgivable. There are no excuses for my irresponsible behaviour. I wish I could take it all back. I have a great deal of remorse. I will do everything in my power to get better. I’m really sorry, Kyla, for taking your baby away. She was a beautiful soul.”
Before reading their statements, the couple listened intently as Kyla and Brian Woodhouse, Kyla’s sister Brittany Pinnell, Meika’s grandfather Kevin Kushner, and step-grandmother Heather Grady read their gut-wrenching victim impact statements.
“How does anyone put into words the loss of a child, my child, my baby girl,” a sobbing Kyla Woodhouse said. “Words cannot express the pain and loss, the sorrow and anguish, the sheer devastation myself and family have experienced these last few years without our Meika.
“I will never again get to see her smile, hear her laugh or watch her play, never get to meet her best friends or boyfriends, teach her how to do makeup or accessorize an outfit,” Woodhouse said.
“These things have been stolen from me in the worst way possible, by someone I once trusted. The feelings that run through me every day, I have to try to forgive and forget but the truth is I will never forget. I will not let her death be in vain.” Brian Woodhouse said Jordan and Magoon forced him to live through a parents’ worst nightmare, to receive the news in the middle of the night from officers at the door telling them of their child’s horrific injuries.
“But what you continued to do was much worse, so heinous and selfish,” he said. “You forced us to stand with you as we said our final goodbye and listened to her heart take its final beat. You forced us to allow you to be part of the decision making in the funeral for the child you murdered, sharing with you our day of grief and having to look into your faces as I stood before all and said our final goodbye that you forced us to have to say.”
Outside court, he told reporters he was pleased with the sentence, in that their kids will be of legal age before the killers can get out of prison and are able to look at anybody again.
“To know everything we went through didn’t fall on deaf ears and the judge heard our pleas, to know our side of things, is satisfying,” Brian Woodhouse said.
Crown prosecutors Susan Pepper and Hyatt Mograbee, who sought a sentence without parole for 21 years, were nevertheless content with the judge’s reasons.
“When a person is convicted, as they were convicted of murdering a child while in a position of trust, that brings up the sentence,” Mograbee said. “The sentence was within the range we proposed.”
Pepper said the case has been a long, arduous ordeal, and it is a relief for everybody.
“We were privileged to work with some many excellent people — police, experts, other citizens,” said Pepper. “But we want to acknowledge how grateful this has been for family — Kyla, Brian, family and friends. They’ve been here every step of the way. We hope they have happier times and bring an end to a horrible chapter in their lives.”
Pepper earlier told the judge that Meika Jordan’s death “involved abuse and suffering of a child at the hands of Jordan and Magoon over a long period of time.
“The court found as fact that Meika Jordan sustained head injuries, abdominal injuries, multiple bruises and abrasions when she was dragged over various surfaces, pulled up the stairs by her hair, she was missing hair, and had a burn on her hand from being held over a lighter.”
She also said the couple’s attempt to cover up the crime and failing to call 911 until it was too late are both aggravating factors that call for a longer prison sentence.
Magoon’s lawyer, Allan Fay, agreed with the Crown that his client deserved to spend more than the minimum required time in prison before becoming eligible for parole. But he said 13 to 15 years was appropriate.
“This case falls into the spectrum of horrendousness,” Fay added. “It’s hard for any of us to fathom how this could come to be. My client appreciates the tremendous trauma the family has suffered because of this incident. She acknowledges the feelings they have on her.”
Jordan’s lawyer Mitch Stephensen said his client, obviously, was “not the best father, but not for lack of trying.” #He sought a parole ineligibility period of 10 to 12 years.
“He wasn’t a cruel dad,” he said. “Mr. Jordan loved his daughter, too. He’s a victim here. You can blame him, but no one blames him more than himself.”
Stephensen noted that the judge, in convicting the parents of second-degree murder, decided they did not have the intent to kill, only that they recklessly caused the child’s injuries.
Jordan and Magoon faced first-degree murder charges at the start of trial, but the judge convicted them of the lesser charge, which draws a parole period of 10 to 25 years.
Had they been convicted of first-degree murder, they would have been handed automatic life terms without parole for 25 years.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Custodial dad, step on trial for torture of 11-year-old son (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
UNNAMED DAD. No word as to what happened to this boy's mother.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-mountie-wife-continue-trial-on-severe-child-abuse-1.3226475
Ottawa Mountie, wife continue trial on severe child abuse
WARNING: Story contains graphic and disturbing details
CBC News Posted: Sep 13, 2015 4:47 PM ET
Last Updated: Sep 14, 2015 7:26 PM ET
An Ottawa Mountie and his wife were arrested in 2013 in what police called the "worst case of abuse police have seen."
An Ottawa woman told police "I haven't done anything" after she and her RCMP officer husband were accused of severe long-term abuse of the man's 11-year-old son, including chaining him up in the basement of their home, court heard Monday.
The woman, 36, and man, 44, are on trial for what Ottawa police called the "worst case of abuse police have seen" when they were arrested in February 2013. They cannot be named to protect the boy's identity.
Each is on trial for aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessaries of life.
The woman is also charged with assaulting the child with a weapon, while the man is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.
On Monday, court saw the woman's police interview via video, which was taken after her arrest. She told police her 11-year-old stepson was "out of control" and that she feared for the safety of her toddler and four-month-old baby.
She said she never hit the boy nor was she aware of his many injuries, including burn marks near his genitals, scabs and scars on his body and that he was gaunt and malnourished.
At one point, Ottawa Police Sgt. Tracy Butler told her in a raised voice the boy was "maltreated and abused by your husband."
She added, "you knew about it, you condoned it and you let it happen."
The woman, who was at times emotional during the interview, said, "I haven't done anything. I swear to God."
Father admitted to confining son During the interview, which lasted more than two hours, the woman told police her stepson was stealing and getting into fights.
She said he was sent to private school after being kicked out of school, but the boy began being home schooled in 2012.
She said the boy was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and oppositional defiant disorder and prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
She also said she worried he had sexual feelings for her after he asked her to breastfeed him.
"(He) didn't attach to me. I love him but it was difficult to reach out to him when he's mocking me all the time," she said.
She also said he told his father he would "initiate sexual things with other boys" at school and camp.
Last week, the court heard the man admit he used a chain and plastic ties to confine his son in the family's Kanata basement in his police interview video.
In 2013, the RCMP said the father has been on leave since May 2011, but the reason for that remains under a court-ordered publication ban.
Police sources previously told CBC News the man was a member of the force's counter-terrorism unit.
The trial continues.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-mountie-wife-continue-trial-on-severe-child-abuse-1.3226475
Ottawa Mountie, wife continue trial on severe child abuse
WARNING: Story contains graphic and disturbing details
CBC News Posted: Sep 13, 2015 4:47 PM ET
Last Updated: Sep 14, 2015 7:26 PM ET
An Ottawa Mountie and his wife were arrested in 2013 in what police called the "worst case of abuse police have seen."
An Ottawa woman told police "I haven't done anything" after she and her RCMP officer husband were accused of severe long-term abuse of the man's 11-year-old son, including chaining him up in the basement of their home, court heard Monday.
The woman, 36, and man, 44, are on trial for what Ottawa police called the "worst case of abuse police have seen" when they were arrested in February 2013. They cannot be named to protect the boy's identity.
Each is on trial for aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessaries of life.
The woman is also charged with assaulting the child with a weapon, while the man is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.
On Monday, court saw the woman's police interview via video, which was taken after her arrest. She told police her 11-year-old stepson was "out of control" and that she feared for the safety of her toddler and four-month-old baby.
She said she never hit the boy nor was she aware of his many injuries, including burn marks near his genitals, scabs and scars on his body and that he was gaunt and malnourished.
At one point, Ottawa Police Sgt. Tracy Butler told her in a raised voice the boy was "maltreated and abused by your husband."
She added, "you knew about it, you condoned it and you let it happen."
The woman, who was at times emotional during the interview, said, "I haven't done anything. I swear to God."
Father admitted to confining son During the interview, which lasted more than two hours, the woman told police her stepson was stealing and getting into fights.
She said he was sent to private school after being kicked out of school, but the boy began being home schooled in 2012.
She said the boy was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and oppositional defiant disorder and prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
She also said she worried he had sexual feelings for her after he asked her to breastfeed him.
"(He) didn't attach to me. I love him but it was difficult to reach out to him when he's mocking me all the time," she said.
She also said he told his father he would "initiate sexual things with other boys" at school and camp.
Last week, the court heard the man admit he used a chain and plastic ties to confine his son in the family's Kanata basement in his police interview video.
In 2013, the RCMP said the father has been on leave since May 2011, but the reason for that remains under a court-ordered publication ban.
Police sources previously told CBC News the man was a member of the force's counter-terrorism unit.
The trial continues.
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