Mom and Dad Hamaty
Posted on 07/27/2005 4:11:22 PM PDT by WaveMan
The ordeal is finally over, but for the past year, a North Carolina family has been torn apart after state officials claimed family photos of a father kissing his baby's belly button were some kind of child abuse.
It began when Teresa Hamaty took impromptu party snapshots of her husband, Charbel, playfully embracing their naked, newborn son, Kristoff.
After dropping the film off at an Eckerd store in North Raleigh, authorities were notified.
"You see the back of the baby, and like if someone is kissing the baby's belly button," Teresa told WRAL-TV.
But police saw the worst and arrested Teresa for taking sexually explicit photos, charged her husband with felony sexual assault, and put Kristoff and his half-sister in protective custody.
"It was a nightmare," Charbel said, after spending half a year in jail.
Teresa took months fighting to gain back custody of her children.
"I think this was one of those times that they got the wrong people," Teresa said. "They were too quick to judge when they took one look at my husband."
Dozens of Hamaty supporters showed up for court appearances, claiming police overreacted. They raised some $140,000 in legal and living expenses for the Hamatys.
"[It] makes me feel, that's it – that's why I have to be strong for – to show everybody what the truth is," Charbel told the station.
The charges eventually were dropped when a report submitted by an expert said there was no criminal intent in the pictures.
"I hate cameras," Charbel now says. "I don't like taking pictures."
Mom and Dad Hamaty
Yep, but I'd never do it without a diaper on the kid. Don't want any surprises...no, no, no.
Charbel is a fairly common Lebanese Christian name.
From WRAL Web site - http://www.wral.com/news/4772296/detail.html#
Happy Ending For Raleigh Parents Accused Of Sex Offenses
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Imagine going to jail for showing playful affection toward your baby. Now cleared, Charbel and Teresa Hamaty say that is exactly what happened to them.
Police charged the Hamatys last August with child abuse, accusing Charbel Hamaty of sexual assault on the couple's newborn son. Teresa Hamaty was arrested for taking sexually explicit photos.
Police charged the Hamatys last August with child abuse, accusing Charbel Hamaty of sexual assault on the couple's newborn son. The charges were eventually dropped, but the legal nightmare lasted until Tuesday.
Speaking for the first time publicly about the accusations, the family says it is frustrated by the legal system, but thankful to be reunited.
Back home again, 16-month-old Kristoff Hamaty has no clue that his parents temporarily lost him and their freedom over what they considered innocent, loving pictures.
"I know and I believe it was a nightmare," Charbel Hamaty said. Last August, he was jailed on felony sex offenses for family photos he casually dropped off to be developed at a North Raleigh Eckerd.
In a batch of impromptu party pictures, a few showed a naked Kristoff, then an infant, being kissed by his half-sister, Victoria, and proud father Charbel.
In a batch of photos, a few showed a naked Kristoff, then an infant, being kissed by his half-sister, Victoria, and proud father Charbel.
"You see the back of the baby, and like if someone is kissing the baby's belly button," said Teresa Hamaty.
Instead, police saw the worst and also arrested Teresa Hamaty for taking sexually explicit photos.
At court appearances, dozens of Hamaty supporters showed up to argue that police overreacted.
Over time, family, friends and strangers from the United States, Canada, and Charbel Hamaty's home country of Lebanon raised $140,000 in legal and living expenses.
"(It) makes me feel, that's it -- that's why I have to be strong for -- to show everybody what the truth is," Charbel Hamaty said.
Teresa Hamaty was released on bond, but waited months to reunite with her children. Charbel Hamaty sat in jail six months before the district attorney dropped charges after an expert's report showed no criminal intent.
"I think this was one of those times that they got the wrong people," Teresa Hamaty said. "They were too quick to judge when they took one look at my husband."
Both police and the District Attorney's Office contend they reacted appropriately.
In hindsight, the Hamatys said they realize the photos could be misinterpreted at first glance. Now, they say they are just happy all of their legal troubles are behind them.
-----snip
You mean to tell me you never gave your kids a raspberry on the belly? I thought everyone did that, if I spent six months in jail for everytime I did that to my kids I would be in there for 3 life times. Nothing wrong at all with doing this and the police should have to give this guy reparations for the time he spent in jail, out of their own pockets of course.
LOL!
NC ping!
These officials shouldn't be fired: they should be jailed!
";^)
It works like this: The cop the photo people told didn't laugh at them because he likes them ratting him and doesn't want to discourage that. Then his superiors couldn't admit that any of their flunkies had made a mistake, so they had to back him. Then the prosecuter doesn't want to make his cops look bad, it might bring their judgment into question in other cases. And after all, it's just one six months and he doesn't even have a government job, so what's the problem?
I'd say that question has now been definitively answered. Unless judges suppress this information, I'd question their competence to chew gum!
Nope. They are different chains, companies. See www.eckerd.com and www.cvs.com for details.
< If 'rasberrying' a baby's belly is abuse, every member of my family for the past four generations that I know of would be imprisioned. >
< I guess I'd better turn myself into the authorities right now. >
Add me and my 7 siblings to the list. Guilty as charged.
I used to raspberry my babies' tummies, armpits, and sometimes even their (freshly-bathed) bottoms. We would play games in which I was a snarling monster and when time for the big bite came, it was a raspberry. The kids always made that adorable squealing noise babies make when they're truly delighted, and then they'd laugh that fat baby laugh. Sometimes I would devour their fingers and toes, too, or raspberry them in the throat, which tickled so much they'd absolutely scream with delight and try to imitate the raspberry noise. Come lock me up, officer. I guess I'm just a pervert.
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