We've reported on dad VINCENT BLANDA before.
http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/oxford-news/man-who-murdered-infant-daughter-sentenced-560813.html
Man who murdered infant daughter sentenced
By Lauren Pack, Staff Writer
Updated 1:26 PM Monday, February 22, 2010
HAMILTON — A Hamilton father found convicted of killing his infant daughter has been sentenced to 23 year to life in prison.
The sentence was handed down today, Feb 22 by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Patricia Oney, who told Vincent Blanda he has shown no remorse for his actions and, in fact, blamed others for his daughter’s death.
“He has blamed everyone for the death of his daughter,” Oney said, minutes before she sentenced Blanda about 10:45 a.m. She added Blanda told the probation department a teen in the home caused the injuries.
Blanda, 39, shackled and handcuffed, stood emotionless with his defense attorney Jeremy Evans. He remained without expression as his ex-wife sobbed when she told the judge about losing her daughter.
Blanda has been in jail since March 2008, when his daughter Brooklyn died in the hospital after suffering inner-cranial hemorrhage while in his care.
Carmen Vanscyoc, who testified during the three-day trial, said “Vincent Blanda took the life of my new 5-month-old daughter.”
Vanscyoc said Blanda has continued to make her life miserable by calling and writing to Children Services and others in an attempt to disrupt her life.
“He took a beautiful life your honor and he doesn’t deserve anything but to spend the rest of his life in prison,” Vanscyoc said.
Evans argued the child endangering charges should be merged with the murder charge for sentencing, citing an appeals court decision.
Oney declined Evan’s motion, citing a separate decision in the 2006 murder case of 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel of Middletown that said the charges did have to be merged.
Oney sentenced Blanda to 15 years to life in prison for murder, eight years in prison for felony child endangering and an additional six months for domestic violence that will be served consecutive to the child endangering charge.
After the sentencing, family members hugged and thanked Hamilton detectives who investigated the case.
“I thank God,” Vanscyoc said, noting she is relieved he court case is finished.
Monday, February 22, 2010
"Caretaker dad" pleads guilty to killing 53-day-old son; mom was stationed out of state (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
"Primary caretaker" Dad BRYAN PAGE DINGMAN was no "one-time" child abuser. While the baby's mother was stationed in San Diego, this @$$hole freak admits that he threw the baby into the bassinet after the baby vomited. After that, he slapped the baby on the side of the head three times on the SAME DAY. The baby died of a brain hemorrhage after being taken off a respirator.
Given Daddy's previous record, it sounds like he's got a few loose nuts anyway.
I may need to start a new blog JUST on "caretaker" dads in the military, or where the mother is not allowed to act as a mother because she is in the military.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/child-94576-abuse-death.html
Ex-NORAD petty officer pleads guilty to killing infant son
February 22, 2010 11:55 AM
JOHN C. ENSSLIN
A Navy petty officer formerly based at NORAD pleaded guilty today to child abuse resulting in the death of his 53-day-old son.
Bryan Page Dingman, 25, faces 30 to 40 years in prison when 4th Judicial District Judge Gilbert Martinez sentences him on May 3. The plea came one week before Dingman was to stand trial on first-degree murder charges and child abuse in the January 2009 death of his son Enzo.
“I was rough with him. I slapped him on the back of his head,” Dingman told the judge. The blow to the head followed an incident a few days earlier in which the child rolled off a couch.
“I knew that something was wrong with him,” Dingman said of the earlier incident. “I should’ve taken him to the hospital …. Because of that, my son lost his life.”
Dingman also pleaded guilty to committing a crime of violence. If he had gone to trial and been found guilty of first-degree murder, he could have faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The normal range of punishment for what he pleaded guilty to is 16 to 48 years.
His son died Jan. 28, 2009, after being taken off a ventilator. He had suffered a brain hemorrhage.
Initially, Dingman told Colorado Springs police about the child falling off the couch at his apartment in the 3400 block of Vera Cruz Court.
Later, however, investigators said he admitted to throwing the child in a bassinet after the boy vomited and head butted his father’s cheek on Jan. 26. He also admitted to slapping the boy on the head three times later that day, police said.
The evidence against Dingman included a series of text messages he exchanged with his wife, who at the time was stationed with the Navy in San Diego.
As part of his plea, Dingman also admitted violating the terms of a deferred sentence he had received on an earlier charge of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. The charge stemmed from an incident in July 2008 in which he allegedly fired a .40-caliber pistol into the ground to scare off some men from the parking lot of his apartment.
Given Daddy's previous record, it sounds like he's got a few loose nuts anyway.
I may need to start a new blog JUST on "caretaker" dads in the military, or where the mother is not allowed to act as a mother because she is in the military.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/child-94576-abuse-death.html
Ex-NORAD petty officer pleads guilty to killing infant son
February 22, 2010 11:55 AM
JOHN C. ENSSLIN
A Navy petty officer formerly based at NORAD pleaded guilty today to child abuse resulting in the death of his 53-day-old son.
Bryan Page Dingman, 25, faces 30 to 40 years in prison when 4th Judicial District Judge Gilbert Martinez sentences him on May 3. The plea came one week before Dingman was to stand trial on first-degree murder charges and child abuse in the January 2009 death of his son Enzo.
“I was rough with him. I slapped him on the back of his head,” Dingman told the judge. The blow to the head followed an incident a few days earlier in which the child rolled off a couch.
“I knew that something was wrong with him,” Dingman said of the earlier incident. “I should’ve taken him to the hospital …. Because of that, my son lost his life.”
Dingman also pleaded guilty to committing a crime of violence. If he had gone to trial and been found guilty of first-degree murder, he could have faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The normal range of punishment for what he pleaded guilty to is 16 to 48 years.
His son died Jan. 28, 2009, after being taken off a ventilator. He had suffered a brain hemorrhage.
Initially, Dingman told Colorado Springs police about the child falling off the couch at his apartment in the 3400 block of Vera Cruz Court.
Later, however, investigators said he admitted to throwing the child in a bassinet after the boy vomited and head butted his father’s cheek on Jan. 26. He also admitted to slapping the boy on the head three times later that day, police said.
The evidence against Dingman included a series of text messages he exchanged with his wife, who at the time was stationed with the Navy in San Diego.
As part of his plea, Dingman also admitted violating the terms of a deferred sentence he had received on an earlier charge of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. The charge stemmed from an incident in July 2008 in which he allegedly fired a .40-caliber pistol into the ground to scare off some men from the parking lot of his apartment.
Dad on trial for 1st-degree murder in beating death of 3-month-old son (West Palm Beach, Florida)
Dad TILLMAN C. MOORE is on trial for 1st-degree murder in the beating death of his 3-month-old son. The baby died from a fractured skull. Dad was babysitting, and didn't bother to call paramedics until the mother got home. Not surprisingly, this guy had previously threatened the mother and the baby in the weeks prior to the baby's death.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/west-palm-beach-mother-tells-jurors-about-finding-256861.html
West Palm Beach mother tells jurors about finding her baby dead
By Andrew Marra
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 7:04 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, 2010
Posted: 5:59 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, 2010
WEST PALM BEACH — A man accused of beating his 3-month-old son to death in 2007 listened on in a courtroom today as the mother told a jury about the day she found her baby dead and the father bewilderdly attempting CPR.
The mother was a key witness today on the first day of the first-degree murder trial against Tillman C. Moore, 25, a West Palm Beach man charged with the death of his son, Jayden Moore.
A jury listened as the mother, LaWanda Addison, tearfully recounted receiving a panicked phone call in September 2007 from Moore, who was caring for the baby in their home on Greenwood Avenue in West Palm Beach. He told her Jayden wasn't breathing.
She said she raced home and arrived minutes later. In the bedroom she found Moore attempting to perform CPR by himself.
"I asked 'Where's the paramedics?'" she said. "He said 'I was waiting for you to get home'."
She said Moore first told her that the baby must have suffered heat stroke after he took him outside in a stroller.
But he changed his story, she said, after officials at a hospital emergency room announced their son had a skull fracture.
Then, she said, he claimed that he had left him alone on the bed and speculated that he may have fallen.
Later, authorities say, he also claimed the baby had fallen from a stroller.
Addison portrayed Moore as emotionally unstable, threatening her, the baby and himself in the weeks prior to the baby's death.
Prosecutors are seeking a lifetime prison sentence for Moore. The trial is expected to last through next week and into the following week.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/west-palm-beach-mother-tells-jurors-about-finding-256861.html
West Palm Beach mother tells jurors about finding her baby dead
By Andrew Marra
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 7:04 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, 2010
Posted: 5:59 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, 2010
WEST PALM BEACH — A man accused of beating his 3-month-old son to death in 2007 listened on in a courtroom today as the mother told a jury about the day she found her baby dead and the father bewilderdly attempting CPR.
The mother was a key witness today on the first day of the first-degree murder trial against Tillman C. Moore, 25, a West Palm Beach man charged with the death of his son, Jayden Moore.
A jury listened as the mother, LaWanda Addison, tearfully recounted receiving a panicked phone call in September 2007 from Moore, who was caring for the baby in their home on Greenwood Avenue in West Palm Beach. He told her Jayden wasn't breathing.
She said she raced home and arrived minutes later. In the bedroom she found Moore attempting to perform CPR by himself.
"I asked 'Where's the paramedics?'" she said. "He said 'I was waiting for you to get home'."
She said Moore first told her that the baby must have suffered heat stroke after he took him outside in a stroller.
But he changed his story, she said, after officials at a hospital emergency room announced their son had a skull fracture.
Then, she said, he claimed that he had left him alone on the bed and speculated that he may have fallen.
Later, authorities say, he also claimed the baby had fallen from a stroller.
Addison portrayed Moore as emotionally unstable, threatening her, the baby and himself in the weeks prior to the baby's death.
Prosecutors are seeking a lifetime prison sentence for Moore. The trial is expected to last through next week and into the following week.
Dad charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree assault against 6-week-old son (Graham, Washington)
Dad DAVID EDWARD RIEDEL should never be allowed around any baby or child as long as he lives. Given his violent criminal record (which includes a child assault charge in 1994), he should have been banned from contact with any children years ago.
This MONSTER essentially abused and tortured this infant from birth. There was no "snap" or sudden loss of temper, no one-time event. This was on-going. This guy is a complete POS who should be locked up with the key thrown away.
The baby is now in critical but stable condition. It's a miracle he's still alive with what he has been through.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/02/19/1077942/graham-man-charged-with-abusing.html
Graham man charged with abusing 6-week-old son
By SEAN ROBINSON; Staff writer
Published: 02/19/10 6:40 pm Updated: 02/19/10 7:43 pm
Pierce County prosecutors have charged a Graham man with two counts of first-degree assault of a child. The victim is the man’s six-week-old son.
David Edward Riedel, 39, was charged Tuesday and arraigned today. He is pleading not guilty.
Charging papers say the child was transported to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital on Feb. 13, listed in critical but stable condition. His injuries included acute swelling of the brain and older injuries to the rib cage and pelvic area.
Also according to charging papers:
Riedel confessed to his pastor that he was responsible for the boy’s injuries and blamed a relapse into drug use.
Abuse began when the boy was two weeks old. Riedel spanked the boy every time he cried, shook him violently for not eating, and stuck a finger down the boy’s throat to stop him from crying.
On Feb. 11, Riedel hit the boy in the head, making a “clunking” noise that caused the boy to have a “dazed look” and go to sleep. The next day, Riedel hit the boy in the head again.
The boy’s mother – Riedel’s wife – told police the boy would cry whenever he saw his father. On Saturday, she was trying to quiet the boy’s crying when Riedel stuck his finger down the boy’s throat. She tried to stop him, pulling his hand away. Riedel got angry and put his finger down the boy’s throat again.
The mother again tried to pull Riedel’s hand away. The boy’s mouth began to bleed. Riedel, still angry, threw the boy onto a changing table, pressed fingers into the boy’s neck and shook the baby. The boy’s mother screamed at him to stop, and the baby began to whimper. Riedel “karate-chopped” the boy across the chest, and the boy stopped breathing. The mother called 911 as Riedel attempted CPR.
At the hospital, Riedel admitted ramming the boy’s head into a door.
Riedel pleaded guilty to third-degree child assault in 1994. He has additional convictions for unlawful drug possession in 2004 and unlawful gun possession in 2006. His trial on the new charges is set for April 8. First-degree assault of a child is a class A felony, punishable by up to life in prison and $50,000 fine.
This MONSTER essentially abused and tortured this infant from birth. There was no "snap" or sudden loss of temper, no one-time event. This was on-going. This guy is a complete POS who should be locked up with the key thrown away.
The baby is now in critical but stable condition. It's a miracle he's still alive with what he has been through.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/02/19/1077942/graham-man-charged-with-abusing.html
Graham man charged with abusing 6-week-old son
By SEAN ROBINSON; Staff writer
Published: 02/19/10 6:40 pm Updated: 02/19/10 7:43 pm
Pierce County prosecutors have charged a Graham man with two counts of first-degree assault of a child. The victim is the man’s six-week-old son.
David Edward Riedel, 39, was charged Tuesday and arraigned today. He is pleading not guilty.
Charging papers say the child was transported to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital on Feb. 13, listed in critical but stable condition. His injuries included acute swelling of the brain and older injuries to the rib cage and pelvic area.
Also according to charging papers:
Riedel confessed to his pastor that he was responsible for the boy’s injuries and blamed a relapse into drug use.
Abuse began when the boy was two weeks old. Riedel spanked the boy every time he cried, shook him violently for not eating, and stuck a finger down the boy’s throat to stop him from crying.
On Feb. 11, Riedel hit the boy in the head, making a “clunking” noise that caused the boy to have a “dazed look” and go to sleep. The next day, Riedel hit the boy in the head again.
The boy’s mother – Riedel’s wife – told police the boy would cry whenever he saw his father. On Saturday, she was trying to quiet the boy’s crying when Riedel stuck his finger down the boy’s throat. She tried to stop him, pulling his hand away. Riedel got angry and put his finger down the boy’s throat again.
The mother again tried to pull Riedel’s hand away. The boy’s mouth began to bleed. Riedel, still angry, threw the boy onto a changing table, pressed fingers into the boy’s neck and shook the baby. The boy’s mother screamed at him to stop, and the baby began to whimper. Riedel “karate-chopped” the boy across the chest, and the boy stopped breathing. The mother called 911 as Riedel attempted CPR.
At the hospital, Riedel admitted ramming the boy’s head into a door.
Riedel pleaded guilty to third-degree child assault in 1994. He has additional convictions for unlawful drug possession in 2004 and unlawful gun possession in 2006. His trial on the new charges is set for April 8. First-degree assault of a child is a class A felony, punishable by up to life in prison and $50,000 fine.
A Battered mother's prayers for her missing sons (Borella, Sri Lanka)
This is such a sad, horrible story. I can't even begin to summarize it.
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2010/02/21/prayers-for-my-sons/
Prayers For My Sons…
By Ranee Mohamed
Her religion, her life and living decree that her photograph ought not to be taken — let alone be published in a newspaper. But the loss of one’s children can drive a mother to do anything, even the prohibited.
“I will do anything, just about anything to get my sons back,” said the battered, abused and beaten Fathima Faika, with only tears and a gnawing heartache left behind as legacies of a marriage made at 26 years of age.
“He was the one and only man in my life. I led a sheltered life and attended the Kegalle Convent. I had no association with men and my life revolved around my husband,” recalled Faika crying uncontrollably.
“I endured the torture, endured the beatings and endured the endless cooking, cleaning and fetching because of my sons,” said Faika. “But there came days when I could not bear the beatings anymore, yet I stayed,” she added. But it was not always that she could stay. “At most times the beatings became unbearable, I thought I would die if I stayed and I ran into the night. When my eldest son was born I was forced to leave the infant behind and run away. Yet I came back, because of my sons,” cried this anguished mother choking on the memories. . .
All these beatings were endured in the vicinity of the Borella Police Station. “One day when I went to the Borella Police I was told not to cry and cough as the saliva may settle on the complaints book. “If you are sick, go and take treatment, don’t come here,” the police once told me. Despite the fact that Faika’s mother thought that a tin of red paint had been slashed on here face, the police in Borella had been reluctant in taking down the complaints of this helpless woman.
“In your culture, men are allowed to take other women, so why fuss?” an officer in the Borella Police Station had reminded Faika. But it was not the other women that Faika was worried about, it was the impossibility of enduring physical beatings and the ultimate loss of her most cherished possessions – her sons
“I wish to pay a tribute to the Women and Children’s Bureau in Fort for the way they have stood by me. I remember how a W.P.C. there questioned my husband over my blood-covered bruises and warned him repeatedly against this physical abuse. (To which he said that my mother had beaten me and dumped me in his house.)
With an influential husband in business, friends in high places, and on the verge of stepping into politics, Fathima Faika at first glance may look like the quiet wife of a rich man. But look deeper into her heart, talk to her and one sees not just cracks in her life, but whole ruination.
Innocent, troubled and distant are the words that one would use to describe this helpless woman from Borella who has made 17 complaints to various authorities over the disappearance of her sons, Mohamedhul Khifli (10) and Ahamed Shanfer (5).
Each day my little son saw the tears in my eyes and he made the sacrifice. He sacrificed his comfort, his love for me and his happiness, he endured it all and chose to be away from me because he knew that I would be beaten if they stayed with me,” said this traumatised woman in need.
Fathima Faika needs our help, but she remains isolated. There seems to be no one who is actually able to give her what she wants – her sons.
“My husband said that he divorced me. But at times he says he is married to me, either way he does what suits the situation. I was forced to leave him when our first son was just nine days old. But I had to come back because he kept the baby. I could not bear the pain of losing him….” And of course it was the milk that welled up within her and the surging of love within her that caused this young women to come back to a home she described as a hellhole.
Had enough
But with one child and a hundred beatings, Fathima Faika had just had enough. “I was determined to divorce him. When I told him of my intentions, he said that it would look bad on him if I divorced him, so instead he would divorce me.”
“I was given custody of my child,” said Faika.
After four hearings in eight months, Fathima Faika was told that she was divorced. But as time went by her ex-husband seemed to have no intention of leaving her alone.
“Despite being divorced, he forced me to come and live with him. He said he was a changed man. And on being urged by my helpless mother and ailing father, I chose to go,” recalled Faika.
And when she went to live with him she not only got more beatings but something even more — another child.
“I really wanted to stay together because of my sons. Besides our culture did not seem to recognise a divorced woman. I endured the torture once again. There was an endless flow of friends and relatives to our home and it was a case of cooking from morning to night. If there was too much gravy in the chicken curry, I got beaten; if the curry was too dry, then I got beaten. If I was too slow I was beaten, if I did not know how to fix the charger to the new telephone, then again I got beaten – in fact, there was nothing about which I did not get beaten,” said Faika in tears.
Children — they make women endure not just mental trauma but grievous mental and physical hurt. Fathima Faika knew that if she left she would lose the children.
My children were terrorised into saying that they do not love me, that they do not need me — and they said so to friends and strangers, they said so, with tears in their eyes. I really did not want to leave, but the physical abuse was hard to endure,” said Faika.
And in that one moment of unbearable pain and agony, she did leave – she went back to her mother. “With her face so bruised and lips so swollen, I thought she was someone else,” said her mother in tears.
But there is always room for a daughter in her mother’s home. And when she was living there, the car that pulled up near the house had been a strange one. In that was her technically ex-husband. “My father is ill and my mother and I are constructing a new bathroom for him. I got late to come to the car as I was supervising this,” explained Faika. But her ex-husband had other thoughts. “Where were you?” he asked as she got in, and just as she answered the car swerved. “He beat my face and body and I felt the blood gushing down my nose. His driving was not near perfect, but the beatings were,” she said. The drive was an hour long, but for Fathima Faika it seemed like a long drive to the roads of hell, being beaten at every turn.
Children terrified
“He took me to the house we used to live in and I saw my sons in there. They were terrified. It was a rainy night and I could not recognise my own face,” said Faika.
And once again she had gone to the Borella police to be told that she ought to take treatment before she lodges an entry. “He had many influential friends in high places. I had no one anywhere,” said Faika.
Chased away from the house, Fathima Faika would go to her sons’ schools during the interval and feed them rice. She would stand in the roadside just to get a glance of them. “And then I would walk home in the sun, wiping the unending tears….”
.
But there came a day in August 2009 when Fathima Faika almost lost her mind. “I did not see them for days, I did not see them in the house, in the school, on the roadside…. nowhere did I see them…” she cried at the thought.
And when she had gone to her sons’ school she had been told that they have been removed from the school. Later she found that the things in the home where her sons had lived were being sold.
It was a heartbreaking frenzy that overtook this mother. “I ran everywhere in desperation. I just could not live without my sons. I could not begin the day without looking at their faces, I could not continue my life without them….” she says.
It has been revealed that Fathima Faika’s sons have gone missing – no one seems to know where they are and these minors have no access to their mother. “I have also been receiving telephone calls from strange people asking me for their money back if I cannot send them for employment overseas,” said a puzzled Faika. Fathima Faika appeals, she begs, she implores – “whoever you are, whatever you are doing, please help me to get my sons back.”
Fathima Faika has made the following complaints to overcome her misery, escape from the dangers and live happily as a mother — with her children. For assaualt and kidnap – CWIB 94/119, 326/72 CWIB (Women and Children’s Bureau), UTR 11477 (119), CIB II 82/305, CIB I 55/57, CIB I 243/123, CIB I 255/12, CIB II 22/27, CIB II 156/220, CIB I 100/144, CIB III 301/150, CIB III 15/297, CIB II 299/331, CIB III 349/44. At Police Headquarters — CIB I 175/30, IGP/APC/109/09.
This is a plea to all mothers – all mothers who are professional women, who are housewives, who are simply mothers and to those women who are unmarried; here is a woman, a young woman whose only experience with romance and marriage is a barrage of beatings, uncertainty and tears. She has lost her most cherished possessions. Who will help her get them back — she is not talking about her jewellery, but her two young sons whose smiles lights up a feeling that surpasses the glitter of gold…
It’s been seven months since I heard their voices and saw their innocent faces,” wails this mother in anguish.
Who will help Fathima Faika to sleep again — in the cosy cuddle of her children?
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2010/02/21/prayers-for-my-sons/
Prayers For My Sons…
By Ranee Mohamed
Her religion, her life and living decree that her photograph ought not to be taken — let alone be published in a newspaper. But the loss of one’s children can drive a mother to do anything, even the prohibited.
“I will do anything, just about anything to get my sons back,” said the battered, abused and beaten Fathima Faika, with only tears and a gnawing heartache left behind as legacies of a marriage made at 26 years of age.
“He was the one and only man in my life. I led a sheltered life and attended the Kegalle Convent. I had no association with men and my life revolved around my husband,” recalled Faika crying uncontrollably.
“I endured the torture, endured the beatings and endured the endless cooking, cleaning and fetching because of my sons,” said Faika. “But there came days when I could not bear the beatings anymore, yet I stayed,” she added. But it was not always that she could stay. “At most times the beatings became unbearable, I thought I would die if I stayed and I ran into the night. When my eldest son was born I was forced to leave the infant behind and run away. Yet I came back, because of my sons,” cried this anguished mother choking on the memories. . .
All these beatings were endured in the vicinity of the Borella Police Station. “One day when I went to the Borella Police I was told not to cry and cough as the saliva may settle on the complaints book. “If you are sick, go and take treatment, don’t come here,” the police once told me. Despite the fact that Faika’s mother thought that a tin of red paint had been slashed on here face, the police in Borella had been reluctant in taking down the complaints of this helpless woman.
“In your culture, men are allowed to take other women, so why fuss?” an officer in the Borella Police Station had reminded Faika. But it was not the other women that Faika was worried about, it was the impossibility of enduring physical beatings and the ultimate loss of her most cherished possessions – her sons
“I wish to pay a tribute to the Women and Children’s Bureau in Fort for the way they have stood by me. I remember how a W.P.C. there questioned my husband over my blood-covered bruises and warned him repeatedly against this physical abuse. (To which he said that my mother had beaten me and dumped me in his house.)
With an influential husband in business, friends in high places, and on the verge of stepping into politics, Fathima Faika at first glance may look like the quiet wife of a rich man. But look deeper into her heart, talk to her and one sees not just cracks in her life, but whole ruination.
Innocent, troubled and distant are the words that one would use to describe this helpless woman from Borella who has made 17 complaints to various authorities over the disappearance of her sons, Mohamedhul Khifli (10) and Ahamed Shanfer (5).
Each day my little son saw the tears in my eyes and he made the sacrifice. He sacrificed his comfort, his love for me and his happiness, he endured it all and chose to be away from me because he knew that I would be beaten if they stayed with me,” said this traumatised woman in need.
Fathima Faika needs our help, but she remains isolated. There seems to be no one who is actually able to give her what she wants – her sons.
“My husband said that he divorced me. But at times he says he is married to me, either way he does what suits the situation. I was forced to leave him when our first son was just nine days old. But I had to come back because he kept the baby. I could not bear the pain of losing him….” And of course it was the milk that welled up within her and the surging of love within her that caused this young women to come back to a home she described as a hellhole.
Had enough
But with one child and a hundred beatings, Fathima Faika had just had enough. “I was determined to divorce him. When I told him of my intentions, he said that it would look bad on him if I divorced him, so instead he would divorce me.”
“I was given custody of my child,” said Faika.
After four hearings in eight months, Fathima Faika was told that she was divorced. But as time went by her ex-husband seemed to have no intention of leaving her alone.
“Despite being divorced, he forced me to come and live with him. He said he was a changed man. And on being urged by my helpless mother and ailing father, I chose to go,” recalled Faika.
And when she went to live with him she not only got more beatings but something even more — another child.
“I really wanted to stay together because of my sons. Besides our culture did not seem to recognise a divorced woman. I endured the torture once again. There was an endless flow of friends and relatives to our home and it was a case of cooking from morning to night. If there was too much gravy in the chicken curry, I got beaten; if the curry was too dry, then I got beaten. If I was too slow I was beaten, if I did not know how to fix the charger to the new telephone, then again I got beaten – in fact, there was nothing about which I did not get beaten,” said Faika in tears.
Children — they make women endure not just mental trauma but grievous mental and physical hurt. Fathima Faika knew that if she left she would lose the children.
My children were terrorised into saying that they do not love me, that they do not need me — and they said so to friends and strangers, they said so, with tears in their eyes. I really did not want to leave, but the physical abuse was hard to endure,” said Faika.
And in that one moment of unbearable pain and agony, she did leave – she went back to her mother. “With her face so bruised and lips so swollen, I thought she was someone else,” said her mother in tears.
But there is always room for a daughter in her mother’s home. And when she was living there, the car that pulled up near the house had been a strange one. In that was her technically ex-husband. “My father is ill and my mother and I are constructing a new bathroom for him. I got late to come to the car as I was supervising this,” explained Faika. But her ex-husband had other thoughts. “Where were you?” he asked as she got in, and just as she answered the car swerved. “He beat my face and body and I felt the blood gushing down my nose. His driving was not near perfect, but the beatings were,” she said. The drive was an hour long, but for Fathima Faika it seemed like a long drive to the roads of hell, being beaten at every turn.
Children terrified
“He took me to the house we used to live in and I saw my sons in there. They were terrified. It was a rainy night and I could not recognise my own face,” said Faika.
And once again she had gone to the Borella police to be told that she ought to take treatment before she lodges an entry. “He had many influential friends in high places. I had no one anywhere,” said Faika.
Chased away from the house, Fathima Faika would go to her sons’ schools during the interval and feed them rice. She would stand in the roadside just to get a glance of them. “And then I would walk home in the sun, wiping the unending tears….”
.
But there came a day in August 2009 when Fathima Faika almost lost her mind. “I did not see them for days, I did not see them in the house, in the school, on the roadside…. nowhere did I see them…” she cried at the thought.
And when she had gone to her sons’ school she had been told that they have been removed from the school. Later she found that the things in the home where her sons had lived were being sold.
It was a heartbreaking frenzy that overtook this mother. “I ran everywhere in desperation. I just could not live without my sons. I could not begin the day without looking at their faces, I could not continue my life without them….” she says.
It has been revealed that Fathima Faika’s sons have gone missing – no one seems to know where they are and these minors have no access to their mother. “I have also been receiving telephone calls from strange people asking me for their money back if I cannot send them for employment overseas,” said a puzzled Faika. Fathima Faika appeals, she begs, she implores – “whoever you are, whatever you are doing, please help me to get my sons back.”
Fathima Faika has made the following complaints to overcome her misery, escape from the dangers and live happily as a mother — with her children. For assaualt and kidnap – CWIB 94/119, 326/72 CWIB (Women and Children’s Bureau), UTR 11477 (119), CIB II 82/305, CIB I 55/57, CIB I 243/123, CIB I 255/12, CIB II 22/27, CIB II 156/220, CIB I 100/144, CIB III 301/150, CIB III 15/297, CIB II 299/331, CIB III 349/44. At Police Headquarters — CIB I 175/30, IGP/APC/109/09.
This is a plea to all mothers – all mothers who are professional women, who are housewives, who are simply mothers and to those women who are unmarried; here is a woman, a young woman whose only experience with romance and marriage is a barrage of beatings, uncertainty and tears. She has lost her most cherished possessions. Who will help her get them back — she is not talking about her jewellery, but her two young sons whose smiles lights up a feeling that surpasses the glitter of gold…
It’s been seven months since I heard their voices and saw their innocent faces,” wails this mother in anguish.
Who will help Fathima Faika to sleep again — in the cosy cuddle of her children?
Mom fights for custody of 4-year-old son severely abused by custodial father (Sidon, Lebanon)
It is not entirely clear to my how UNNAMED DAD took custody of his 4-year-old son--only to basically torture him. It sounds like the mother was only allowed by the Lebanese courts to have one year of custody after the divorce before the boy was to be "returned" to his father. Then Daddy apparently got tired of being a daddy after about a month, and called the mother to take the child--who was literally covered in blood when she saw him. Not surprisingly, the mother reports that this vicious creep abused her during their marriage as well.
Mother fights for custody of 4-year-old boy severely abused by his own father
By Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff
Monday, February 22, 2010
SIDON: The cuts and bruises, obvious signs of physical abuse, can be seen all over his face. Although Maher is just 4 years old, he has already suffered severely traumatizing experiences caused by his own father.
“I don’t want my dad. I don’t want to get in the car. I don’t want to go to the toilet,” he cried when his grandfather asked him on Sunday to tell The Daily Star about his experience.
Maher, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, was playing in his grandfather’s garden in Sidon and only agreed to tell his story after he was reassured that no one would take him back to his father’s house.
“Dad beat me with a stick and locked me in the toilet with four dogs,” he started.
The child revealed the marks of abuse that cover his body: burns on his stomach, probably caused by cigarettes, and red welts on his back.
“When I tell him to stop hitting me he says I want to hit you more and when I tell him I’m hungry he makes me eat poop,” he said about his father.
Maher was initially put in the custody of his mother Fatima Atef Wehbe after his parents divorced but was returned to his father after a year. The court ruled that he would stay with his mother for a year and that his father would pay child support, a decision the man did not respect.
“I want to regain custody of my son … What his father did was not normal,” said Wehbe, who was preparing to file a lawsuit against her ex-husband.
Wehbe discovered the abuse when she was called by her husband last Sunday to take her child. “I saw him locked in the bathroom, covered with blood. I couldn’t tolerate the sight and I fainted,” she said, adding that she had herself been abused by her husband during their marriage.
Maher was seen by a legal medical examiner on February 15 and the report concluded that he had been repeatedly beaten over two weeks. The physician Afif Khafaja reported bruises on the child’s face, on his thighs and on his back, as well as burn marks on his stomach.
Maher’s grandfather said the child was with his mother for a year after the divorce but that his father took him back. The father soon returned the child to his mother, saying he would wait for him to become a man and decide for himself who to live with.
He then took the child from his mother about a month ago to spend the weekend with him but he didn’t give him back. Instead he sent Wehbe a text message, saying “it’s either you or me.” Last Sunday Wehbe received a phone call from her ex-husband telling her to take the child back.
“We will file a lawsuit against [the father] for beating his child and we have already filed two complaints against him: one asking that he be denied custody, the other demanding that he pay child support,” said Whebe’s lawyer Samih Haydar.
This is basically domestic violence by proxy--an abuser targeting the children in order to injure and cause pain to the absent partner. And yet another case where Daddy didn't want to pay child support either.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=111989Mother fights for custody of 4-year-old boy severely abused by his own father
By Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff
Monday, February 22, 2010
SIDON: The cuts and bruises, obvious signs of physical abuse, can be seen all over his face. Although Maher is just 4 years old, he has already suffered severely traumatizing experiences caused by his own father.
“I don’t want my dad. I don’t want to get in the car. I don’t want to go to the toilet,” he cried when his grandfather asked him on Sunday to tell The Daily Star about his experience.
Maher, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, was playing in his grandfather’s garden in Sidon and only agreed to tell his story after he was reassured that no one would take him back to his father’s house.
“Dad beat me with a stick and locked me in the toilet with four dogs,” he started.
The child revealed the marks of abuse that cover his body: burns on his stomach, probably caused by cigarettes, and red welts on his back.
“When I tell him to stop hitting me he says I want to hit you more and when I tell him I’m hungry he makes me eat poop,” he said about his father.
Maher was initially put in the custody of his mother Fatima Atef Wehbe after his parents divorced but was returned to his father after a year. The court ruled that he would stay with his mother for a year and that his father would pay child support, a decision the man did not respect.
“I want to regain custody of my son … What his father did was not normal,” said Wehbe, who was preparing to file a lawsuit against her ex-husband.
Wehbe discovered the abuse when she was called by her husband last Sunday to take her child. “I saw him locked in the bathroom, covered with blood. I couldn’t tolerate the sight and I fainted,” she said, adding that she had herself been abused by her husband during their marriage.
Maher was seen by a legal medical examiner on February 15 and the report concluded that he had been repeatedly beaten over two weeks. The physician Afif Khafaja reported bruises on the child’s face, on his thighs and on his back, as well as burn marks on his stomach.
Maher’s grandfather said the child was with his mother for a year after the divorce but that his father took him back. The father soon returned the child to his mother, saying he would wait for him to become a man and decide for himself who to live with.
He then took the child from his mother about a month ago to spend the weekend with him but he didn’t give him back. Instead he sent Wehbe a text message, saying “it’s either you or me.” Last Sunday Wehbe received a phone call from her ex-husband telling her to take the child back.
“We will file a lawsuit against [the father] for beating his child and we have already filed two complaints against him: one asking that he be denied custody, the other demanding that he pay child support,” said Whebe’s lawyer Samih Haydar.
Despite confession, clear evidence of infant's violent death, and suicide note, dad not arrested for murder (Clearwater, Florida)
The reporters do a credible job of laying out the facts that were more than apparent when police decided NOT to arrest dad CRAIG WALL for the death of his infant son. Despite 1) a video confession by the father, 2) fatal infant injuries that were consistent with battering and shaking (with Dad being the only adult at home), and 3) a suicide note , the police sat on their hands and did nothing. Well, they weren't really, really sure, you see.
Then Wall "allegedly" murdered the baby's mother while out on a puny $1000 bail after violating her restraining order.
Whatta a nice job, Clearwater police. What do you bozos do for an encore?
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/results-not-apology-will-tell-if-wall-will-face-charges-in-baby-sons-death/1074658
Results, not apology, will tell if Wall will face charges in baby son's death
By Rita Farlow and Dominick Tao, Times Staff Writers
Saturday, February 20, 2010
CLEARWATER — On the day Craig Alan Wall Sr.'s infant son died, Clearwater police obtained a search warrant for a red Nikon digital camera that police say contained a video of the father saying he "was sorry he did something to the baby."
The warrant also says that two doctors examined the baby, who died at a hospital on Feb. 6, and found fractured ribs and swelling on the left side of the baby's brain.
And Wall Sr., 34, left a suicide note on a computer in the apartment where the baby was found injured.
Despite those factors, police have not charged Wall in connection with the infant's death. Eleven days after the baby, Craig Wall Jr., died, his mother, Laura Taft, was found fatally stabbed at her Clearwater apartment. Wall Sr. is in custody in Sumter County, where police say he fled after killing Taft, who was his girlfriend.
Police spokeswoman Beth Watts said the department is awaiting a final cause-of-death report from the Medical Examiner's Office.
"It's a death investigation," Watts said. "It hasn't been classified as a homicide. We can't say what caused that child's death."
In the warrant, the medical director for the Child Protection Team in Pinellas County, an arm of the state Department of Health, said she "suspected that the baby was either shaken or thrown onto a soft-type surface to cause injury to the brain."
Watts said that was considered speculative. "Every time we have a suspicious death, it's not always ruled a homicide. You have to look at other factors," she said.
Watts said the language in the search warrant about Wall's statement on the video clip was "very vague and does not constitute a confession."
Taft's other child, Connor Taft, is not related to Wall. He was with his father when Taft was stabbed to death early Wednesday morning.
Wall will be extradited to Pinellas County to face a murder charge, Watts said.
Then Wall "allegedly" murdered the baby's mother while out on a puny $1000 bail after violating her restraining order.
Whatta a nice job, Clearwater police. What do you bozos do for an encore?
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/results-not-apology-will-tell-if-wall-will-face-charges-in-baby-sons-death/1074658
Results, not apology, will tell if Wall will face charges in baby son's death
By Rita Farlow and Dominick Tao, Times Staff Writers
Saturday, February 20, 2010
CLEARWATER — On the day Craig Alan Wall Sr.'s infant son died, Clearwater police obtained a search warrant for a red Nikon digital camera that police say contained a video of the father saying he "was sorry he did something to the baby."
The warrant also says that two doctors examined the baby, who died at a hospital on Feb. 6, and found fractured ribs and swelling on the left side of the baby's brain.
And Wall Sr., 34, left a suicide note on a computer in the apartment where the baby was found injured.
Despite those factors, police have not charged Wall in connection with the infant's death. Eleven days after the baby, Craig Wall Jr., died, his mother, Laura Taft, was found fatally stabbed at her Clearwater apartment. Wall Sr. is in custody in Sumter County, where police say he fled after killing Taft, who was his girlfriend.
Police spokeswoman Beth Watts said the department is awaiting a final cause-of-death report from the Medical Examiner's Office.
"It's a death investigation," Watts said. "It hasn't been classified as a homicide. We can't say what caused that child's death."
In the warrant, the medical director for the Child Protection Team in Pinellas County, an arm of the state Department of Health, said she "suspected that the baby was either shaken or thrown onto a soft-type surface to cause injury to the brain."
Watts said that was considered speculative. "Every time we have a suspicious death, it's not always ruled a homicide. You have to look at other factors," she said.
Watts said the language in the search warrant about Wall's statement on the video clip was "very vague and does not constitute a confession."
Taft's other child, Connor Taft, is not related to Wall. He was with his father when Taft was stabbed to death early Wednesday morning.
Wall will be extradited to Pinellas County to face a murder charge, Watts said.
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