Posted on 06/11/2005 9:07:07 AM PDT by Graybeard58
LITCHFIELD -- Described as a manipulative monster for the 18 months of sexual and psychological abuse he inflicted on three young children, Salisbury baby sitter Jeremy Barney was sentenced Friday to 20 years in jail, and 20 years of special parole.
Barney, a tall, thin, 19-year-old with glasses, wore an oversized orange jumpsuit and stared blankly as he was surrounded by four marshals in Litchfield Superior Court. The parents of two boys and a girl who were between the ages of 6 and 13 in 2003 described the horrors the family continues to endure.
"There have been flashbacks, nightmares, shrieking and begging to go to the hospital," said the mother of the victims, who wasn't identified to protect the identity of her young children. "There have been fears, and nightmares and flashbacks. My 8-year-old daughter begged me to please let her kill herself. "
The young woman described how difficult it has been to mend such deep wounds. Her children are rarely able to attend school, and often need clinical help just to get through the day.
It is now a full time job to be near her troubled children, who depend on her, counselors and a dozen prescribed medications just to get through the day. Nightly, she said, new details about what happened in their former Sharon home for 18 months in 2002 are still being revealed.
The father of the children said Barney manipulated his way into the family's trust as a baby sitter who watched the children after school and before the parents returned home from work.
Over a period of 18 months, Barney raped and subjected each child to psychological abuse and intimidation, according to court documents. He also used instruments to violate them with, and cut their genital areas with glass.
"He is a soulless, heartless psychopath, a master of manipulation," the father said following a tearful embrace with his wife. "He safety-pinned the paws of our cat to the carpet while he sexually assaulted the cat so as to preserve their silence. He used the same instrument of sexual assault on our dog as he used on my daughter. And the dog is still incontinent. We need to lock this monster up and lose the key."
Assistant State's Attorney James Fletcher said the case was his first in his 15 years as a prosecutor that the probation officer who conducted a background investigation recommended a lengthy jail term without probation.
Society, Fletcher said following a 45-minute address about the pattern of crippling terror, needs to be protected. He asked for a 30-year jail term for first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.
"Any healing won't come for a very long time," Fletcher said. "This has left the children broken and struggling on a daily basis."
Fletcher said the crimes were revealed after one of the children needed counseling. A pattern was then revealed and stories were confirmed by pediatric examinations. While the children suffered, Fletcher said, Barney's school performance remained good as a student with higher than average intelligence.
"He used his intelligence to manipulate and terrorize the children so they wouldn't disclose the abuse," he said.
Barney's attorney, Stephen Somerstein, said Barney was a troubled young boy who was himself the victim of sexual abuse as an 11-year-old. He needs help, Somerstein said, not a jail sentence that will leave him a hardened criminal unable to function in society.
No one spoke on Barney's behalf.
When asked to speak, Barney stuttered and was helped to his feet by marshals. He referred to one of his victims as a defendant, then apologized for the error. He began blaming the victim, but stopped speaking in mid sentence when his attorney pulled him from a standing to a sitting position. To investigators, Barney said the sex was consensual.
The victims left their home in Sharon on the recommendation of counselors who suggested the familiarity of the environment where Barney caused so much harm would continue to haunt the children. They now live in another Northwest Corner town.
Title had to be edited because of length. Full title:
'Monster' given 20-year sentence Baby sitter put three children through 18 months of sexual and psychological abuse
A MALE babysitter?? That's the first red flag right there...
How did 18 months go by with both parents not noticing the cat's bloody paws or their children's bleeding genitals--sounds so bizarre--were the parents into drugs or something?
What can be said? He needs to be separated from his testicles before the sun sets, and then executed forthwith.
I tell ya what--with kids as old as these were, it is hard for me to figure out why the parents didn't have a clue that something this horrendous was going on. There must have been drastic changes in their personalities and behavior.
They should castrate him. I am imagining that crazy kid in Sin City with the glasses...
He needs to be removed from this planet -- ASAP.
A hollow-point .22 slug behind the ear is cheaper and more efficient for all concerned.
Oh, so NOW her kids are her full time job. These clueless idiots didn't notice anything wrong with their kids (or pets) FOR 18 MONTHS??!!
Un-friggin' believable. Throw the parents in jail, too.
Bizarre--the parents, too--they're also the story here.
I'm not going to do a blame-the-victim thing here, but as a mother I'd like to know how is it that all these horrors took place and neither of the parents noticed a thing for a year and a half. How can a man can cut the genitals of a young child and her mother isn't aware of it? Even a droplet of blood in the panties or a Band-Aid "south of the border" would give a clue. Didn't this mother ever see her children in the bathtub?
And I can't believe the children continued to behave as usual, happy and effervescent as children should be, while all this was going on. I can't believe a man could destroy the internal organs of a pet cat and dog and someone wouldn't notice something. The animals and children must have been in agony, and nobody saw it? What's wrong with these people?
And why are the children now so upset that the "can rarely go to school?"
Wouldn't they have been pretty messed up prior to the discovery?
It shouldn't have taken 18 months to figure out what was going on.
Here's some help for the poor misunderstood troubled youth:
He is a defecive unit that should be immediately returned to maker.
What's worse though?? The writer or the editor??
Ditto to that and then some.
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