Chapter 12 - LORNA’S CHILD-ABUSE CASE
The criminal case stayed small.
Specific.
The dining-room video showed:
Dishes swept.
Estelle grabbed.
Pushed to knees.
Rag thrown.
Food used as humiliation.
Lenette shoved when she intervened.
The kitchen footage showed repeated meal withholding tied to behavior.
No severe malnutrition.
No prolonged confinement.
No physical injury beyond bruising.
The prosecutor charged:
Misdemeanor assault against Estelle.
Child-endangerment-related conduct.
Simple assault against Lenette.
Lorna’s lawyer argued discipline.
The prosecutor asked:
“Is forcing a five-year-old to kneel beside broken glass discipline?”
No good answer.
Then my slap.
Defense raised it repeatedly.
Fair.
I had struck Lorna too.
I had already accepted a misdemeanor resolution:
Fine.
Community service.
Anger-management course.
No jail.
I testified.
“Was Lorna physically attacking Estelle when you slapped her?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“I was enraged.”
“Was it lawful?”
“No.”
That took some oxygen out of the defense’s hypocrisy argument.
Two adults could both do wrong.
Only one had been systematically targeting a child.
Lorna was convicted on the core assault and child-endangerment counts.
One broader neglect charge ended in acquittal because evidence did not establish the statutory duration or severity required.
Correct.
Sentence:
Short custodial term partly suspended.
Probation.
No contact with Estelle.
Child-safety treatment.
No employment or volunteer role involving children during supervision.
No lifetime prison fantasy.
No total ruin.
Proportionate consequences.
Estelle did not attend.
She was in kindergarten.
May you like
She had learned to read the word “elephant.”
More important.
