Judge: 'You should never have been a mother'

Sentence is way too easy IMO



GRAFTON, West Virginia (AP) -- A woman who forced her stepchildren to gorge
themselves on food and drink, then eat their own vomit has been sentenced to
two to six years in prison.

Venus Critchfield, 35, of Philippi, West Virginia, was also accused of
beating the children's feet with boards, and using ropes and hooks to force
them to stand for long periods, said Taylor County Prosecutor John Bord.

Circuit Judge Alan D. Moats called the abuse one of the worst cases he's
seen in 30 years.

"You are like the proverbial wicked stepmother of fairy tales," he said.
"You should never have been a mother; you are the antithesis of everything
that is a mother."

The abuse began around 1997 and was "chronic, repeated and escalating," the
prosecutor said.

It involved all six of Critchfield's children and stepchildren over time,
Bord said, but only some of the children were willing to testify against
her.

Critchfield was sentenced to the maximum possible term Wednesday after
pleading guilty to two counts of felony child neglect with injury. The
charges stemmed from abuse that occurred between January 2001 and February
2002.

Today, the victims range from 11 to 16 years old.

State child-welfare officials had removed the children from Critchfield's
care in the past, Bord said.

Their father, Jennings Brian Critchfield, is serving a three- to 15-year
prison sentence for abuse.



http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/09/14/food.abuse.ap/index.html


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