US immigrant couple detained in 'worst child abuse case ever seen'

US immigrant couple detained in 'worst child abuse case ever seen'

By Rebecca Anna Stoil

THE JERUSALEM POST

Friday, March 14, 2008

Two preschool-aged brothers were lying in hospital beds on

Thursday, one fighting for his life, as their parents pled

innocence in what Jerusalem police called the worst child

abuse case they have ever seen.

[Caption] The suspected child abusers are escorted by

police. Photo: AP

The estranged parents, recent haredi immigrants from the

United States, have six other children.

The older of the two victims, aged four and a half, was

hospitalized in good condition at Hadassah-University

Medical Center, Ein Kerem, late on Tuesday after a family

friend noticed he was behaving strangely and contacted

social services. His mother joined him in the hospital.

Then, early Wednesday morning, Magen David Adom received a

call from the family's home in the exclusive Wolfson

apartment complex in the capital's Rehavia neighborhood,

reporting that a three-and-a-half-year-old boy had been

found unconscious and not breathing. An MDA team

resuscitated the boy after a long struggle, and he was

hospitalized, unconscious and in critical condition.

Only then was the connection made between the two cases.

Police representatives described the abuse as "prolonged

and severe," speaking in court on Thursday.

Both children had burns all over their bodies. The younger

boy, who is still unconsciousness, also had marks

indicating that his arms and legs had been bound and that

he had been beaten with a blunt object and whipped on the

back.

Police detained the mother, 38, and spent hours locating

the boys' father, also a suspect in the abuse.

The father said that he and his wife had been separated for

some time, and that as he had been living in a second

Jerusalem property owned by the couple, he had no idea of

the horrors that police believed occurred in his wife's

residence.

The children were allegedly cared for by two Israeli men in

their 20s; they are also suspects in the abuse.

Asst.-Cmdr. Bruno Stein, who is leading the police probe,

said officers were trying to locate two more suspects.

The mother was questioned for almost 13 hours on Wednesday,

but never asked about her two hospitalized sons, Stein

said. Instead, he said, she read from a Book of Psalms. The

mother did say, however, that the father had been

responsible for bringing the two "caretakers" into the

house.

At one point, she confessed to the allegations against her,

but she later retracted her statement.

During the parents' remand hearing on Thursday afternoon,

the mother's attorney said the confession had been made

under pressure. The father also denied any connection to

the boys' injuries.

But after being presented with a series of photographs of

the injuries, Judge Hayim Li-Ran extended the parents'

remands by six days and determined that until the children

were questioned, only social services representatives would

be allowed to visit them in the hospital.

The couple's other six children have been put in the care

of the city's Social Services Department.

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