Bearing children is a huge responsibility and a cause of constant worry. Parents are responsible for loving, caring and raising them right.
And then there are cases we hear of child abuse and assault that make us question humanity. We ostracise a person who is known to hurt a child in physical, emotional or sexual manner. What are we to do when the parents are the ones hurting their own children?
A 17-year-old girl in an emaciated state escaped from her house in Perris, California. She called 911 from a phone she found inside. They later found that 13 siblings, including the girl who escaped, were being held captive in filthy conditions. The children’s age ranged from a 2-year-old infant to 29-year-old adults. Some of them were shackled and chained to the beds.
As per a report by Hindustan Times, the parents. David and Anna Turpin, have been arrested and charged with 9 counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment, with a bail ordered at $9 million each. They have failed to give a logical reason to the police as to why the kids were shackled to the beds, or even why they were starving.
The 17-year-old who managed to escape and call for help appeared to be merely 10-years-old to the police. The other children found in the house were more or less equally emaciated. 6 of the children were minors, the other 7 were above 18. They were all unkempt, starving and malnourished.
David Turpin’s record on California state records lists him to be the principal of Sandcastle Day School, the address of which is his own house. David and Anna filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
When the police contacted the lawyer, Nancy Trahan, who was handling their case, she said,
“They seemed like very nice people.”
However, on the contrary, the neighbours found them to be unusually cut-off from social contact. Wendy Martinez, one of the neighbours, stated that her only contact with the family occurred once when she was passing by their house one night in October. Four children were installing a sod in the yard while Anna watched over them from the door. When she said hello to the kids, they did not respond. She said,
“They were very, like, afraid. Like they had never seen people before.”
A Facebook page which seems to be created by David and Anna showcase them with their 13 kids in a marriage ceremony and also at Disneyland, wherein the kids are all in matching clothes.
The minor kids are admitted to a hospital for treatment and the adults are admitted to another medical care facility for treatment. Why these innocent and faultless kids were put through such inhumane conditions remains unknown. But the 13 siblings will definitely need rehabilitation to heal the scars left on their child-like minds.