Right, Judge. If it was possible to somehow put the frosting on the cake of this horrifying story about a judge caught on videotape beating his daughter, a life-long sufferer of cerebral palsy, that quote from the perpetrator did it.
According to the article, Texas Family Court Judge William Adams was secretly taped by his daughter in 2004, and after subsequent abuse, she finally decided to release the almost ten minute video of her father and mother cursing and beating her with a belt.
Many of our children with special needs use the Internet as their lifeline to the world. Then-16-year-old Hilary Adams’s crime was illegally downloading a video without paying for it. The resulting punishment, doled out by a judge who frequently saw the horrific results of child abuse in his courtroom is both incomprehensible and enraging.
Contrast the judge’s efforts to minimize the incident with his daughter’s love and generosity. “It is my wish that people stop threatening my father and start offering professional help. That is what he really needs,” she wrote.
Watching the video made me ill. I struggled with whether I should post a link to it. But abuse needs to be exposed, and the likelihood that special needs children, who often struggle with behavioral issues, will be abused is much higher than for other children. And so I’ve posted it.
Warning: if you have a weak stomach, do not watch this video.