Evil exists. If you need proof, just look at the horrific case of little Charleeni Ferreira.
Charleeni, age 10, of Philadelphia, Pa., died on October 21, 2009. Her father, Domingo Ferreira, 53, and stepmother Margarita Garabito, 43, were charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child.
So how bad was the abuse? The police called it “torture.”
Charleeni actually died from an infection that resulted from broken ribs that were not treated. She had a host of new and old injuries, including a fractured pelvis and a 7-inch gash on her head that had been stuffed with gauze and covered with a hair weave.
For more details, read Signs of Charleeni’s “torture” were hidden, in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
What makes this case so appalling is that a school nurse reported suspected child abuse. In the three years before her death, Charleeni was seen by numerous doctors, a psychiatrist and a therapist. The Philadelphia Department of Human Services (DHS) provided services to the family for five months.
Now, the DHS commissioner is trying to figure out what went wrong.
Bamboozled
Here’s what I think happened: One or both of the parents were sociopaths, and they bamboozled the child welfare workers.
The parents denied any abuse—workers described them as “hurt” by the allegations—but agreed to intervention anyway. After a period of supervision, child welfare workers closed the case. They also recommended that Charleeni’s parents contact a legal aid agency if the school nurse continued to complain about child abuse.
Charleeni herself was also terrorized and manipulated. She told a doctor at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children that her family treated her “like a princess.” Welts on her hand occurred when she accidentally stabbed herself with a pencil in the dark. She and her parents always had explanations for her injuries, although they didn’t always match.
Perpetrators
Police apparently believe that the stepmother, Margarita Garabito, was the main perpetrator. But the father, Domingo Ferreira, didn’t stop her. In fact, he showed no remorse and fell asleep in the police interview room. Then, Ferreira hung himself in his jail cell.
This, of course, is convenient for the stepmother. Her court-appointed attorney terms the suicide “an admission of guilt.”
See Charleeni’s death blamed on her dead father, in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
I don’t know who initiated the child abuse. Women can be abusive sociopaths. They can also be accomplices, under the control of male sociopaths.
Evil exists
So what’s the lesson here?
Evil exists, but it can be concealed by seemingly plausible explanations.
Evil exists, but it can be disguised by expressions of concern.
Evil exists, but victims can be too terrorized to speak of it.
People who are in a position to see signs of child abuse—doctors, teachers, social workers—need to understand that evil does not want to be discovered, so they must pay close attention to any small clues.
This is an awful awful event that occurred, but this article is at good timing for me.
I am aware that evil exists and it is concealed a lot of times by seemingly plausible explanations, and I’ve seen it disguised by expressions of concern. (makes me sick)
I know I was too terrorized in many ways, not that I saw what this poor little girl saw.
In my situation I need to be alert and I will be paying close attention to ANY small clues. Alarm has went of and I will stay awake. These are Gods children and God gave me the opportunity and responsibility to watch about them and I want this job!
Thank you Donna
How to spot a liar: They leave you feeling confused, there are inconsistancies, they protest too much.
But mostly, when you call them out they cycle thru the charm, pity and rage ploys. Lying is childish so you will get childish behaviors.
This is sooooo tragic!
It’s ANOTHER example of just one of the reasons exposure is so important!!!! IF SOMEONE HAD ONLY HAD SEEN THROUGH IT!!!!!
I don’t believe for one second that NO ONE NOTICED…..family, friends, neighbors, social workers…..IT WAS REPORTED….then schmoozed over…..
But…..I am also not ….unfortunately, surprised by this….ONE BIT…..I am utterly disgusted with our government employees…..its a crock of shit! They go, collect a paycheck and don’t make waves or look further than they have to…..
Judges, Social Workers, Police…..you name em…..
I know in my case…..TWICE…..the police were never issued a copy of my TPO’s for the system…..AND his warrent was never entered into the system…..both systems…state and US……Just a small example of WHY I SAY…..we walk this earth alone…..only with our shadows….AND WE BETTER MAKE SURE OUR SHADOWS ARE EFFICIENT and can follow up and make sure others are doing their jobs……..
In private business….when a company cuts back due to lack of funds….it means the rest of the EMPLOYED pick up the slack and WORK HARDER…..NOT just cut out positions and take on the IT”S NOT MY JOB mentality……
They are robots, sheep, and people are hurt/destroyed or killed…..because someone didn’t pay attention or listen to a gut to look further, or the outright signs….GAUZE?????….
WTF…..gauze packed in a gash in the head WITH A HAIR WEAVE…..this obviousley didn’t start and end that day!
God rest that little angels soul…….
THIS IS WHY I FEEL THE NEED TO FIGHT THESE FUCKERS!!!!!
Because nobody else is gonna do it for me!!!!
And this little girl could be any one of our S’s children!!!
GOD FORBID!!!!!
**Sorry…..this struck a nerve…..
P’s are everywhere and the parental P’s are never going to tell their kids how to spot a P, because then the P would be outed. Schools need to have classes for 1st through 8th graders teaching them how to become real human beings and how to recognize when one isn’t.
I went to catholic schools and they possibly saved my life because we had religion classes. Obviously the religion classes were NOT enough because it didn’t address the reality of recognizing evil in our lives and only focused on our own sinful nature, but at least it provided some guidance. My parents never taught me morals, only obedience to their inconsistent wishes.
Reading Riting and Rithmatic are not enough, society has to teach morals and compassion because it is too late to expect it to be taught at home. There is no one home except a P.
The authorities telling the parents to contact LEGAL AID if the school nurse kept “harassing” them by reporting signs of abuse sent me to to the ceiling with RAGE!!!!
That nurse is COMPLELLED BY LAW TO REPORT ANY SIGNS OF ABUSE—so now she is to be compelled by FEAR to ignore signs?
The little girl is dead and gone and cannot suffer any more, but I just wonder about that NURSE who was so DEVALUED as she tried to save a child, so PERSECUTED for trying to do her job and save a child. Except for an “I told you so!” that nurse will carry to her grave the wondering if there was ANYTHING ELSE she could have done to have saved that child.
Yea, this struck a nerve with me too! Sorry isn’t good enough, I hope the “authorities” that dropped this ball get what THEY deserve too. And, Yea, I know how “over worked” and “understaffed” they are but this one was SCREAMING and they ignored it.
May the “wicked step mother of the year” go to prison forever!
It should be a MANDATORY REQUIREMENT that prospective,
adoptive parents undergo an extensive pyschological examination and assessment to screen for this. There are evaluative tools used in conjunction with a thorough criminal
and personal background evaluation that should catch this.
An evaluation of the ABILITY to parent and assessment of
stress coping skills are essential.
Young, single girls giving birth to babies, who haven’t reached a maturational level commensurate with the amount of responsibility and skill that two adult parents, let alone one
teenage one could possibly have, is insane.
Every week I read about a mother who killed her infant or kids because she couldn’t cope with the responsibility alone
without the help of a mate. How incredibly selfish and insensitive it is that they throw away a God given life because
no one loved them and taught them growing up how to do it.
They think that as if by osmosis, they’ll just know how to handle a screaming infant at four in the morning with no one there to take a shift. Let’s not forget the boyfriends they leave the baby with to so they can shop. Baby cries…boyfriend can’t stand it and shakes the baby to death.
Skylar is right. Kids should be taught how to spot this in school, but because of the legal ramifications involved, look how no one wants to step in and risk their own head on the chopping block for a defenseless child. I see bumper stickers
on the cars of people that say “It’s A Child Not A Choice” and that may very well be true once there’s a pregnancy, however, anyone sporting this slogan, better be adopting at least two or three throw aways in the child welfare system, that no one wants because they’re no longer a cute infant.
This is occuring across race and socioeconomic lines throughout this country today. At the risk of being labeled a bleeding heart liberal, I think its everyone’s responsibility to
break the cyclic chain of abuse, first through a massive education initiative, secondly through programs geared to teach sexual behaviour responsibility to young people. This may anger some Catholics, but contraception to avoid unwanted and unplanned for pregnancies is essential.
Parenting 101 should start in at least first grade teaching
through role playing what it means to be a Mommy and Daddy, so at that early stage, kids get a grasp of the enormous responsibility involved with having a kid. Through
pretend play kids learn through those scenarios what you should do and what is unacceptable. This alone, by the time
of post pubescence, along with adequate sexuality education,
could help stem the tide of this phenomena sweeping our country today. It’s not enough to issue moral platitudes and look down your nose at those less fortunate than you that
are struggling without the tools or support necessary to handle
raising a child lovingly and responsibly in this world today.
These parents that we label “evil” are the product of a long line of thinking about corporal punishment the can be found in
the Bible and in every generation that has perpetrated unthinkable abuses against defenseless, young children ever since. Read some of Alice Miller’s books on child abuse and
it’s link to mankind’s need for war and dominance. Her insights
as to why we have such violent cultures and societies are sobering and timeless. War and violence can be directly attributed to the bottomless pit of terror child abuse instills in the lives of every generation, which in turn creates the need
to control and dominate in adulthood.
There’s nothing scarier than being confronted with a terrified,
angry five year old in the body a full grown adult who is carrying the stored up rage of all that past injustice and aiming it at an innocent, defenseless child. Miller goes into great detail about how the intergenerational cycle of abuse
needs to be broken before we can become less violent as a race of sentient beings.
Yes…these two are evil, but no less so than the ones who abused them and so on and so on. Shine a light on this with love and take a firm stand on its unacceptablilty in the world today and then watch then changes as they occur.
Also, NO MORE GLORIFICATION OF VIOLENCE ON TV as its
fostering a whole new generation of sociopaths with no solid
moral and familial support system to counter the imprint of
this vivid and violent imagery in their young minds.
Peace
That is such extreme abuse to go unnoticed. I volunteer at an child adovcacy and that would’ve never gotten past.
But yes, evil can be the most charming and manipulative as is what it wants to do..
If it revealed itself for what it is upfront, it couldn’t do its agenda filled dirty deeds. Hence, the men that charm women..
so anything too charming has an agenda.. as genuine, real people don’t approach that way.
There are lots of contributing factors to physical abuse—from desensitizing violence on computer games, television, movies, music, etc. but even still with all these influences, not everyone (in fact, not the majority) of parents abuse children physically, and certainlly not to this extent.
Not every abuser were themselves abused, however, and not every violent person was exposed to violence as a young child. Not every person who WAS abused as a child grows up to be an abuser either, some of them grow up to be passive victims of abuse.
Cain didn’t kill his brother because he had seen violent Television, and not because he ate “twinkies” either (one guy used his consumption of excess Twinkies as his “defense” LOL)
There are a great many things that should be taught in our schools, and parenting skills is only one of many of those things.
I think this one case is simply the tip of the iceberg that shows up on the news every once in a while, the majority of these cases never end in exposure…that is the biggest crime of all.
Keen, I’m right with you on that. EVERY SINGLE problem in society would be addressed when you address the problem of sociopathy being passed down from parent to child. And not addressing it will be our doom.
Just last week, I photographed another golf ball-sized bruise on my 5-year old niece’s bottom. I discovered it while I was giving her a bath.
When I discovered it, I said to her, “You have a bruise on your bottom, sweetie.”
My niece replied, “I know.”
I said, “How did you get this?”
She said, “I don’t remember.”
I don’t press any farther than that for answers. She just clams up.
It’s exactly like the last bruise I photographed on her bottom. Same size, same location, same everything.
My mom and I both think a kick to the bottom would cause that kind of bruise.
I have many photographs of unexplained bruises, and lots of documentation of incidents.
But, it is not going to be enough to have this child taken away from its BIOLOGICAL MOTHER.
The courts never want to take a child away from the biological mother.
Plus, in this case, the biological mother is a nurse who will have a plausible explanation for anything that I will throw at her. I have already seen previews of what she would do.
Example: When my niece was a toddler, she would run to the corner and cry when it was time to leave my house. The mother’s explanation for this was that it was because I spoiled her, and it was MY fault she did that.
All this coming from a woman who has her house looking like Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.
But, it is a plausible explanation for the behavior, and one the authorities would probably believe.
By the way, now that she is 5, she does not cry when it is time to go home. She just tells me, “I don’t want to go home.”
And, it kills me that I have to send her home with a psychopath/child abuser.
Plus, my brother (this child’s biological father) is in the house, as well. I guess it’s better than nothing.
There are times when I think he may be waking up to the realization of what his wife really is.
Then, there are other times when I think she has really done a number on him, and he is never going to find his way out of the FOG.
Another reason that I don’t report is that somehow this mother can make her child say, “I want my mommy” on cue.
And, to the untrained observer, this will look like a child who actually wants its real mommy. It’s all a performance, but no one will be able to pick up on that.
As hard as it is, I am not reporting anything until I am 100% sure I have enough evidence to have the child removed from that environment. That may never happen, but this child is not going to be 5 years old forever, either. At some point, this child will talk. In the meantime, it is great that I am able to maintain contact with the child.
And, the article above is the reason why I do NOT report.
The authorities are useless.
If I ever get to the point where I think I have something big enough to get the child away from her mother, my first stop is going to be my LAWYER. My lawyer is a genius, and I believe he can take on the screwed-up legal system better than I could.