Grandmother charged with fatally beating 4-year-old while girl's mother was serving in Iraq

staff ^ | 5/20/03 | staff

[CFW]

By Associated Press, 5/20/2003 11:40 WACO, Texas (AP) A woman entrusted to care for her four grandchildren while her daughter served in Iraq remained in jail Tuesday on charges of beating the youngest to death.

Rose M. Cherry, 56, was denied bail Monday on one count of assault causing serious bodily injury to 4-year-old Destiny Moore. Cherry's lawyer had asked that she be released because she has no prior criminal convictions.

[ladtx]

...Cherry acknowledged hitting Destiny with a belt and extension cord as well as her open hand, claiming she did so because the girl was slacking in doing her homework.

Homework? What 4 year old has homework?

[mel]

This is a sad, sad story

[AppyPappy]

This lady is crazy. She just liked beating the kid it appears.

[mewzilla]

What a heartbreaking story. But I do have one question: where was the kids' dad?

[r9etb]

What a horrible story.

Sounds to me like Grandma -- who was probably none too stable to begin with -- wasn't prepared to deal with being mother to small kids anymore.

I guess I do have to question why a single mother of four kids is being shipped overseas in the first place. If she's got to be in the military, put her in a stateside slot and send over a married and/or unencumbered person in her place.

[shotgun]

Shoot the bitch and be done with it!

[Dustbunny]

The grandmother's statement makes no sense.

[mystery-ak]

It was the Spc's choice to go...she could have applied for a hardship being the mother of 4...I know it would have been granted.

[r9etb]

The grandmother's statement makes no sense.

Nor should it -- she acted irrationally over a long period. I think the pressure of caring for four young kids (no grandfather mentioned, BTW) pushed her over the edge.

[MizSterious]

Another reason I question the wisdom of sending women into war. It's not that they can't fight--my question is, should they? What a tragedy.

[SJSAMPLE]

If a servicemember is a single parent and primary caregiver, then he/she must have a Dependent Care Plan in place and ready, prior to deployment. If that servicemember cannot deploy because he/she cannot find care for the dependent, they can be IMMEDIATELY slated for discharge from service. This does not cover unforseen hardships, like sickness, but covers everyday care that a parent is reponsible for. THOUSANDS tried this during GWI and they immediately began separation proceedings.

[ValerieUSA]

I also wonder how long this mother of four has been in the army. Did she sign up after having the kids, or was she pregnant for most of her time in the army? Where is her father? Where is Destiny's father?

[mystery-ak]

..it sounds like this Spc joined the military later in life...probably after her kids were born....when you enlist you must always plan for deployment..her Dependent Care Plan was a failure...

[cake_crumb]

"Asked by the prosecutor why a 4-year-old would be doing homework, Chadwick said Cherry told him Destiny had seen her siblings doing homework and wanted to do some. He said Cherry made up some for her"

At 1:00AM. And then beat her to death for 'slacking' on it. The woman needs to fry.

Good LORD, poor Spc. Moore ! Risking her life in Iraq, entrusting her kids to her own mother while she was gone...only to have her own mother murder one of the kids she entrusted to her. Also, all of the children appear to have been beaten

I assume Spc. Moore is back home...why are the rest of the kids still in a foster home?

[MinuteGal]

It's easier and more exciting to sign up for the military and see the world than to care for four kids at home. Let Grandma do it.

There's plenty of blame to go around here, including the missing grandfather (?), the missing father (?), the mother, the grandmother from hell, and an apparently blind extended family or neighbors.

Add to that a politically-correct liberal society and military which views the "rights" of inductee mothers with multiple small children as equal with those of unmarried young male inductees.

Leni

[HairOfTheDog]

Good LORD, poor Spc. Moore ! Risking her life in Iraq, entrusting her kids to her own mother while she was gone...only to have her own mother murder one of the kids she entrusted to her.

It is really sad. I can't comprehend her plane ride home. Hope they can all recover.

[HairOfTheDog]

Add to that a politically-correct liberal society and military which views the "rights" of inductee mothers with multiple small children as equal with those of unmarried young male inductees.

Yes, lets normalize this very bizarre circumstance into a societal ill. But yes, they do have the same rights. Some who enlist have an awful lot to lose. I would like to think that they who do risk everything for this country don't have their country turn on them and blame them for such a bizarre circumstance.

[SJSAMPLE]

I saw the deployment proceedings for V Corps in GWI. Hundreds of soldiers were suddenly unable to find guardians for their children. Many of these were unintentional, but they were all separated, without hesitation. The armed forces are becoming day care centers for single mothers. This has to be stopped.

[Johnny Gage]

This sorry excuse for a human... needs to be STONED TO DEATH.

Here is a crime that is truly worthy of this type of death sentence.