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.
ErinBrock
I’m going to go and do what persephne suggests…..
I’ve set up a shrine on my porch, with cash, jewels, incense, candles and paint cans in a circular formation….(paint cans are round ya know)….
I have blessed my metal detector already and prayed to the Glidden gods……
I will now begin my chanting and humming….mmmmmmmmmoooooooooonnnnnnnnneeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, for about an hour before I allow myself to set out into the darkness on my nightly Nancy Drew mystery tour.
I will title this night…..Nancy Drew and the painted bear……
Oh….can’t forget the ipod.
ErinBrock
Ya know…..it just occured to me…..when we bought this house, I had the whole interior painted…..goldtones, light sages, coffee’s etc…..but just suble differences in colors from wall to wall……
I had the painters mark each left over paint can with exactly what wall it was used on….
The S punched a hole in the wall in my bedroom……and ….FOR THE LIFE OF ME……there is NOT a paint can stored in the shed, with all the other colors, that matches that wall!!!!
That is now my rainbow wall since I have tried every damn color trying to match the rest of the wall……
I BET he used this can!!
So another bonus of finding the treasure…..maybe it still holds paint and I can finally get rid of the rainbow wall behind my door in my bedroom!!!
persephone7
Erin – in true Nancy Drew fashion, you are workin’ every angle…
I couldn’t sleep yet, lit a candle, took a bath, kept seeing you in the black
do-rag (with daffodils) – kept erasing the bear creeping up…
I am turning in now, but I have two (maybe 3?) words for you:
Spath Stand-up. Henry can be your agent, you know where to get
good material…We’ll all fly to Vegas for your opening night…
amber
HAHAHAHAHAH!!! And the plot thickens…Duuuhhh duuuhhhhh duuuuuunnnnnnnn… GO FIND THAT PAINT CAN NANCY!! LOL
ErinBrock
I’m off….I’ll be thinking up a routine in the wee hours tonight…..it’ll keep me occupied during the Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing hours……until I finally hear BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP……it’ll be just like in VEGAS when you hit those machines……cling, cling, cling, cling, cling, cling, cling.
Bear spray, check
Do rag, Check
Tequila…….ummmmmm CHECK
Flashlight….check
Oh…..I forgot the cigar!……
Wish me luck……
geminigirl
You could fight the bear off with your rotating ,vibrating cyber skillet! It wouldnt know what hit him! Give the bear something to boast to his Grandbears about, when he,s old and grizzly, LOL! Love, gem!
geminigirl
Erin, WTF are you planning to do with that cigar? I can just see that old bear, punch drunk from being slammed upside the head with your vibrating cyber skillet, a cigar in one huge paw, a can of rustoleum Lube in the other.
“Come and get me! Floats like a Butterfly, stings like a beee!
Im Mohammed Ali!”
With that there bar on your side, aint nothin you caint do!!
By the way, what the hell is a do-rag? I smell a mini series in all this!!Love and {{HUGS!!}}} Mama bear gem.XX
geminigirl
Maybe Bill Clinton would know what to do with that cigar! gem.XX
hens
Bill Clinton – cigars? somebody feel me in here
Isabell
Geminigirl…
“Floats like a Butterfly, stings like a beee!”
(with raised L. eyebrow…Is that Hannah Montana’s Nanny’s line? She calls herself the Pooma, I think?”
Henry.. from all the fuss being made over you, my dear, it seems to me, you’ve been felt, delt, smacked, tracked, and tatooed. What else ya lookin for? ::grins::