Anybody want to explain how and why "dirty underwear" dad BENJAMIN R. WILLIAMS got custody to start with? Who gave it to him and why?
http://enidnews.com/localnews/x2088983694/Man-bound-over-in-child-abuse-case
June 9, 2011
Man bound over in child abuse case
By Cass Rains, Staff Writer
Enid News and Eagle The Enid News and Eagle
Thu Jun 09, 2011, 10:26 PM CDT
ENID — Enid man was bound over Thursday afternoon on a felony charge of child abuse following a preliminary hearing.
Benjamin R. Williams, 32, was bound over on the charge accusing him of making his son wear soiled underwear on his head while standing in the corner.
Child abuse is punishable by up to a year in county jail or life imprisonment and/or a fine of $500 to $5,000.
During the hearing Thursday, Williams’ son, now 7, testified after being asked by Special District Judge Brian Lovell if he knew the difference between the truth and a lie.
Assistant District Attorney Irene Asai asked the boy if anything happened while living with his father that involved dirty underwear.
The boy replied “yes,” and Asai asked him to explain what type of discipline was used on him when he would have accidents.
“He would put me in time out,” the boy said of Williams. “He would spank me or put me in time out or put dirty underwear on my head.”
Asai asked where the underwear would be put and the boy said, “Right at my nose.”
The boy testified his time outs would last 10 to 20 minutes and there were “five or six” instances when this occurred. He said his sister, who also was living with Williams, would hide her dirty underwear.
Asai asked the boy how having the underwear put on his head made him feel and the boy said it made him feel “frustrated.”
Williams’ attorney Shera Shirley asked the boy if he was happy to see his dad. The boy said, “Yeah.”
Shirley asked the boy about when and how long he lived with his dad in Enid, and the boy said he lived with his father until August of last year. He told Shirley he now lives with his mother in Florida.
Asai called Williams’s wife, Christina Williams, as her next witness.
Christina Williams testified she met her husband’s son about five years ago and he and his sister lived with her husband. She said she was only aware of one instance when the boy was forced to wear the underwear on his head.
“He had the waistband around the face area to show him how disgusting it was,” she said.
Asai asked if there were other instances when this occurred and Christina Williams said she was not aware of any.
Asai asked what the boy’s reaction was when the underwear was placed on his face.
“He basically cried,” she said. “Like disgusted.”
Detective Tim Doyle testified Thursday he interviewed Benjamin Williams after receiving a report concerning allegations of child abuse from Florida. He said Benjamin Williams’ son had been in temporary custody of his parents in Florida, where the report originated.
Doyle said the boy was interviewed by a forensic interviewer there and told of having to put underwear on his head.
Asai asked Doyle what Benjamin Williams told him about the alleged abuse when he interviewed him.
“He told me he never actually put them on his head,” Doyle said. “He told me he made him smell them a couple of times to show him how disgusting it was.”
Following the testimony, Lovell ruled there was evidence to suggest the crime of child abuse had been committed and bound Williams over trial on the charge.
Williams is free on a $10,000 recognizance bond and is scheduled for district court arraignment at 10 a.m. June 14 before District Judge Paul Woodward.