Posted on 05/11/2007 1:21:50 PM PDT by trumandogz
A woman who claimed that a family pet mutilated her infant son's genitals was taken into police custody this morning, shortly before a protective custody hearing in the case began.
Katherine "Katie" Nadal, 25, is charged with injury to a child, a felony offense. The former Anahuac High School cheerleader was led away in handcuffs by two plainclothes Houston Police Department officers at 9:30 a.m.
Nadal, a former cocktail waitress now unemployed, had arrived at the Harris County Juvenile Justice Center with her mother and her attorney, Itze Soliz Matthews. Police said Nadal did not seem that surprised by the arrest and never cried. She declined to give investigators a statement after they took her into custody.
Matthews later acknowledged during the five-minute hearing that her client had been arrested.
Nadal is accused of "intentionally and knowingly" causing serious bodily injury to her 5-week-old son by "using a sharp instrument" to "cut and remove" his genitals, according to a criminal complaint filed by Houston police with the Harris County District Clerk's Office this morning.
The complaint also accuses Nadal of inflicting the injuries "by manner and means unknown." Her bond is set at $100,000.
The baby's penis and testicles were severed at the family's Clear Lake area apartment on March 13 while Nadal was home alone with the child, police said. None of the severed parts were ever recovered.
The dachshund puppy that Nadal had blamed for the attack was ruled out in another court hearing several weeks ago, said Child Protective Services spokeswoman Estella Olguin.
The injured baby was released from Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital three weeks ago after undergoing multiple surgeries. He is being temporarily cared for by an aunt in Deer Park.
The child's father, Camden Gothia, 36, was not in court this morning to see the arrest, but his sister and mother were there and watched Nadal being led away by officers.
Nadal has not been allowed to see her son since the injuries were discovered because she tested positive for cocaine, methadone and a mild tranquilizer the day after the attack, Olguin has said previously.
Gothia was at work when the attack occurred and ended his relationship with Nadal immediately after the injuries were discovered. He has been allowed supervised visits with his son.
The baby was sleeping and in fine condition when Gothia left for work around 6 a.m. on the morning of the attack, although the baby had suffered from colic and cried a lot for several days previously, Gothia told police.
Gothia told investigators he tried to call Nadal at the apartment that day from 9 a.m. until 3:45 p.m., when she finally answered the phone. Gothia did not learn of his son's injuries until he returned to the apartment in the 400 block of El Dorado shortly after 4 p.m., the police complaint states.
But a neighbor told police Nadal had knocked on his door around 12:30 p.m. and told him something was wrong with the baby, a criminal complaint shows. The neighbor called 911 for an ambulance, then followed Nadal back to her apartment, where she pointed him to a bedroom.
The neighbor told police he saw the baby on a queen-sized bed, bleeding from the lower portion of his body "with his privates missing." Nadal told the neighbor that "the dog did it," the police complaint states.
The neighbor told police he did not see any signs of paw prints or blood on the dog. He told investigators it appeared "the blood had been there for a while on the bed," the complaint states.
The injured child was completely naked and uncovered, the neighbor told police. He reported he did not see any used or torn diapers anywhere around the baby.
The neighbor reported he grabbed a clean diaper and placed it over the baby's genital area to prevent further bleeding. Nadal was the only other person in the apartment, the neighbor said.
The injured child arrived at Memorial Hermann Hospital by ambulance around 1:30 p.m. that day. A doctor in the emergency room at that time told police the infant had lost a large amount of blood and needed immediate surgery.
In her only interview with Houston police, Nadal said she put the baby down for a nap after Gothia left for work and fell asleep herself. She told police she awakened to hear her son "whimpering" and saw the family's miniature dachshund, Shorty, standing over the baby.
Nadal told police she "swatted" the dog off of the baby and ran to get her neighbor for help, the criminal complaint shows.
Nadal later refused police's requests for follow-up interviews and never gave investigators a statement.
A licensed veterinarian with the City of Houston's Animal Control later examined the family's dog, but told police he did not see any blood or human tissue on the animal or in its mouth.
After examining photos of the injured baby, the veterinarian told police "the injuries could not have been caused by this dog," the criminal complaint states.
That opinion was supported by a pediatrician at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital who examined the badly wounded boy.
Dr. Rebecca Girardet — the medical director for the Child Resource and Education Team, and an associate professor of pediatrics for the University of Texas Medical School at Houston — told police she believes the infant's genitals were removed by a "sharp cutting instrument."
The large wound to the baby's groin area had straight edges and an even base, the police complaint states.
Girardet told police the baby was "gravely mutilated with his genitalia being removed by a sharp instrument. She further states that the injuries were certainly not caused by a dog (which would have produced ragged edges)," the police complaint shows.
Girardet said the child's injuries would cause him lifelong suffering.
Police seized a garbage disposal from the family's apartment to examine it for blood, tissue or DNA partly because the neighbor who went into Nadal's apartment that day saw the water running in the kitchen sink, Olguin said previously.
In today's custody hearing, the court agreed to allow Gothia to move into his sister's Deer Park home so that he can live with his son and help care of him. Gothia will live in a detached apartment on the property and will help care for his son, Olguin said.
A DNA test to confirm Gothia's paternity is still pending, Olguin said.
CPS will likely work toward terminating Nadal's parental rights, Olguin said.
Nadal has been arrested by police twice before on drug-related charges that were later dismissed.
In 2004, a Galveston County sheriff's deputy arrested Nadal for having two Xanax pills and a marijuana pipe in her possession after finding her asleep in a car outside a Crystal Beach convenience store that was closed for the night.
The car Nadal drove that night is registered to Gothia, public records show.
The deputy found Nadal slumped over in the driver's seat, with the car's headlights on and the driver's side door standing open, a Galveston County Sheriff's report shows.
Inside a cigarette pack in Nadal's purse, the deputy found a silver pipe containing a partially burnt substance that looked and smelled like marijuana, the arrest report shows. The deputy also found two Xanax pills in a cellophane wrapper tucked inside the purse, according to the report.
Nadal was arrested on charges of possession of dangerous drugs and possession of narcotic paraphernalia, the report shows.
But the drug possession charge was dismissed seven months later because Nadal proved she had a prescription for the Xanax pills, said Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk.
Nadal landed in trouble again in the summer of 2006 when La Porte police found her and another man in a motel room with methamphetamine, a police report shows.
Acting on a tip, police conducted surveillance at a La Porte motel and saw numerous people entering and leaving two rooms there. They questioned Nadal and the man, Raymond Arrendondo Moreno, 52, who were in the same room, a police report shows.
Police found six plastic bags containing what appeared to be methamphetamine tucked inside Nadal's cigarette pack, the report shows. Under a nightstand in the room, they also found a scale holding two plastic bags also containing what appeared to be methamphetamine.
Both Nadal and Moreno were arrested for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, a felony offense. Nadal, already pregnant with her son at that time, spent a month in the Harris County Jail before she was able to post bond, district clerk's records show.
Nadal later claimed she didn't know any methamphetamine was in the motel room, prosecutors said. She testified before a Harris County grand jury, which declined to indict her.
Moreno didn't fare so well. He pleaded guilty in December to a reduced charge of possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to seven years in prison, records show.
Put her naked, in a small concrete pit; give her food and water, but let her sit in her waste until it consumes her.
There are no words to describe this woman. She should rot in hell
“Possibly serving 7 years in prison, depending on how you read the story.”
No, in this particular case the poor man was were he was supposed to be, at work.
“Gothia was at work when the attack occurred and ended his relationship with Nadal immediately after the injuries were discovered. He has been allowed supervised visits with his son.”
Oops, I’m sorry. I didn’t see the part where he hadn’t been established as the child’s biological father. I’ve got to read more carefully.
Thus I have to question if we take more offense to a boy having his genitals mutilated than we would a girl having her genitals mutilated?
Pray for the baby.
Food for thought.
I would hope that if we on FR heard that there were ideas of bringing such a foul practice such as female mutilation to this country, we would raise a ruckus to ensure that little girls would be spared that where we have the power to enforce a ban.
What is horrifying about female mutiliation (which can result in life-long medical problems aside from sexual disfunction, and possibly death) is that it has cultural sanction. We in this culture see such a thing as heinous maiming, just as we see what this woman did to a baby boy as heinous and evil.
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