Stepdad's trial starts in starvation of girl
Posted on 12/06/2002 3:45:28 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Stepdad's trial starts in starvation of girl
'I know what I have done is wrong,' he says of child kept in closet
12/06/2002
Kenneth Atkinson referred to Barbara Atkinson's daughter, who was starved and confined in a closet or small space for years, as "Barbie's secret."
But Thursday, on the first day of testimony in Mr. Atkinson's trial, prosecutors said he also had a secret because he participated in years of abuse.
Police rescued the girl from the Hutchins trailer in June 2001 after Mr. Atkinson told a neighbor Jeanie Rivers about the child. The girl lived in the squalid closet without food, clothes or a toilet for months at a time.
Mr. Atkinson, 35, is charged with causing serious bodily injury to the girl. He also is charged with sexual abuse but is being tried only on the bodily injury charge, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison.
A jury sentenced Ms. Atkinson to life in prison in January for abusing the girl.
 Kenneth Atkinson, the abused girl's stepfather, is charged with causing serious bodily injury to the girl. He also is charged with sexual abuse but is being tried only on the first charge. (MICHAEL AINSWORTH / DMN) |
"Did it appear Kenneth Atkinson had a secret as well?" prosecutor Patricia Hogue asked Ms. Rivers.
"Exactly," replied Ms. Rivers.
Defense attorneys plan to argue that Mr. Atkinson wanted to free the child, who was 3-feet tall and weighed 25 pounds when she was discovered, but he feared Ms. Atkinson.
"I had to tell someone. I was always afraid of telling someone because of Barbara saying she was going to take me down with her if I said anything," Mr. Atkinson said in a statement to Hutchins police that was admitted into evidence Thursday. "I have always wanted to say anything, but I could not due to fear. I knew I had to tell someone. I know what I have done is wrong, and I will take responsibility for my actions."
State District Judge Cliff Stricklin ruled Thursday that defense attorneys could refer to abuse they say Ms. Atkinson inflicted upon Mr. Atkinson. But the judge said he would decide later in the trial, outside the jury's presence, whether an expert could testify that Mr. Atkinson was a battered husband.
He and Ms. Atkinson are divorced, but they were living together at the trailer in Hutchins when the girl was discovered.
Ms. Rivers said that she cried when first shown the girl living in the closet. Mr. Atkinson cried as Ms. Rivers told of first seeing the girl.
"I don't know how, but I let him close the door again," Ms. Rivers sobbed as she recalled the shock of seeing the girl. "We heard the kids coming and shut the door."
Photographs of the child projected on a screen by prosecutors showed the girl's arms were mere inches around when she was rescued. Her knees stuck out from legs that could barely support her when she stood. Her stomach was severely swollen, and every rib was visible and skin hung from her body in some places.
At least two jurors cried when shown the photos. Others looked away, shook their heads or stared at Mr. Atkinson.
The child in the photos bears no resemblance to the happy, golden-haired girl who has grown physically and emotionally in the care of Bill and Sabrina Kavanaugh of Van Zandt County. The Kavanaughs tried to adopt her at birth but were forced to return her because of a legal technicality.
The child went home with the Kavanaughs a month after her rescue and was formally adopted in July. She will need continuing therapy, but doctors and therapists say the girl has made remarkable progress.
Prosecutors also accuse the Atkinsons of confining the child in a crawl space under a house in Waxahachie, according to court documents.
Robert Allwardt, a retired investigator with the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, testified that the child told him she was 2 years old. The girl was then 8.
At one point, she told him she had to use the bathroom, and when Mr. Allwardt asked if she could go alone, the child said, "They not let me go."
"I told her ... now, I'm the boss, and if you have to go potty, you go."
E-mail jemily@dallasnews.com
The article says:
Kenneth Atkinson, the abused girl's stepfather, is charged with causing serious bodily injury to the girl. He also is charged with sexual abuse but is being tried only on the first charge.
I wonder why the prosecutors chose NOT to pursue sexual abuse also?.....
I was almost CERTAIN that I had posted articles of this story when it first came up in the news, but this one is all I found:
Mom Unrepentant For Nearly Starving Girl To Death -
Says 9 yr old Daughter Was Source Of All Problems
If I can find them, I'll post the links to prior posted articles on this story.
What a horrible thing to do.....
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What a horrible thing to do.....
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Pitty.
How about duct taping gernades to his hands, wire the pins to the ceiling and see how long he can hold his arms in the air else he pulls the pins out. And oh yea make him stand on coke bottles in his bare feet.
Yes. That's the good news, thanks ! 
Dang Texas sissies!
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