Judge To Decide If 9-Year-Old Liberian Refugee Will Stand Trial In Arizona Rape

PHOENIX (AP)-- A 9-year-old boy charged in the gang-rape of an 8-year-old Liberian girl sobbed in court Monday as his teacher testified that he rarely did his homework and often got into fights with other students.

Under questioning by the prosecution, second-grade teacher Toya Abrams said the boy was a challenge and had various behavioral problems.

The boy eventually put his head down on a table and began sobbing, prompting his lawyer to ask for a recess.

The boy is one of four Liberian boys facing charges in the rape. Police say the boys lured the girl to a storage shed at a west Phoenix apartment complex with the promise of gum and took turns raping her.

All the children involved are refugees from the West African nation of Liberia.

The case sparked an international outcry after police reported the girl's father said she brought shame on the family and he didn't want her back -- comments a family pastor later said were misunderstood because of a language barrier.

State child welfare officials have custody of the girl, and police are recommending neglect charges against her parents.
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Monday's hearing was to designed to help Judge Dawn Bergin decide if the 9-year-old charged in the rape is competent to stand trial. Two mental-health experts found that he is not, and Bergin must listen to testimony from them and others before she makes a decision.

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Bergin was expected make a ruling Monday or Tuesday, but decided testimony would take too long for that. She scheduled another hearing on the same matter for Nov. 18.

Abrams, who teaches at Camelview Elementary School in Phoenix, also testified that she was concerned about the boy's home life, saying he wore the same dirty shirt to school for months, often smelled bad, and was often hungry. She said no one in his family ever showed up to his parent-teacher conferences or signed his homework.

"As a teacher, that let me know that I'm on my own," she said.

She said the boy often acted out in class and received poor grades even though she believes he was capable of learning his lessons. Whenever the boy was punished, she said he would "shut down," putting his head down in his arms and refusing to work for the rest of the day.

The boy's attorney, Art Merchant, asked Abrams whether he would be prevented from properly doing his job because of such behavior. She answered yes, but Bergin ruled her answer as inadmissible.

A 14-year-old is charged as an adult in the case. A 13-year-old is undergoing a court-ordered process intended to make him competent to stand trial. Another 9-year-old has been ruled incompetent but is undergoing classes to teach him about the court system and become competent to stand trial.

(This version corrects boy's age per updated court information.)

Comments

[NLiz]

I agree. Because of his age, this boy stands at least a slim chance of rehabilitation and the possibility of becoming a contributing member of society but not if locked away with hardened criminals. I've no doubt this boy has been treated like dirt and seen some horrible things in his short 9 years. I'm hard pressed to think he doesn't deserve a chance to be better.

[SaddieMcCall]

Maybe they will allow him to plea guilty and move to France

[mommaserene]

It's a horrible tragedy, all the way around. I don't, however, believe jail is the answer. I think if we're going to hold children as accountable for their actions as we do adults, then there needs to be education for the children as to the consequences of those actions. Yes, he knew it was wrong when he looked into the eyes of that terrified little girl. But did he have any idea what would happen to him because of it? I doubt it. Kids that age are used to spankings, groundings, simple punishments of that nature, but they have no idea they can go to jail for serious infractions.

I think we need to re-examine the system before we go sending little kids to jail.

[evecairo]

All of you seem to be assuming that all of the parents involved in these cases were the victims in their previous country. But most likely they were the perpetrators. That can be the case with people who also pretend to be victims. So I would not be very quick to call the actions of the parents based on the belief they suffered at home.

[MJHammonds]

There is certainly a possibility that the parents were both perpetrators and victims. Liberia has been in the midst of a civil war for years.

[forsure]

All this sh^t that is going on is demonic!

[MJHammonds]

Unfortunately, for these children, this is the kind of thing they grew up with in Liberia.

[FoxIslander]

"...he wore the same dirty shirt to school for months, often smelled bad, and was often hungry..."

The fact that we are even discussing a possible trial of an abused 9 year old goes far to explain our world leading per-capita incarceration rate.

[JHKH]

The children seem all to be neglected. This 9-yr old is emotionally and/or psychologically damaged. What a tragedy to be deprived of nurture in this country, no less than had his family remained in Liberia.

[lkim65]

I don't understand why people say that 9-year olds don't understand the difference between right and wrong. Of course they do. They may not understand the 'consequences' of bad behavior, because the consequences or punishment may vary, however that is a completely different thing.

[kathy001]

I agree. However, I'm not convinced that a 9 year old would understand the difference in the severity between skipping school and raping a little girl. They might understand that it is wrong but not understand just how severely wrong it is. In this case especially, with an emotionally damaged child, I'm not convinced that he understood the degree of damage that he was doing to the little girl.

All that being said, the boy needs intensive therapy and needs to be placed in an environment where he can receive proper care - and supervision. He was obviously not getting the care he needed.

[fedupwiththis]

Do you people have any idea how many kids almost as disturbed as these boys sit in classrooms every day? Parents never home, working one, two even three jobs to make the rent. These kids raise themselves. Is it any wonder they are near mad? We are raising a generation of sociopaths. If you think the jails are full now, just wait a few years. We have crossed our Rubicon. We are on the downhill slope and there is nothing to stop our fall. We did away with any of our social services designed to do anything but harvest revenge. We are doomed.

[PunKinPai]

This boy has been miserably abused by his parents and let slip through the cracks by his school and public welfare system. He and the other boys were acting on what they new from life in Liberia...­violence, assault and inhumanity. While there's no guarantee he can be rehabilitated by the juvenile justice system and psychological treatment, there is a 100% guarantee that if he's convicted and punished as an adult he will become a monstrous criminal. There must be more to this country than a thirst for retribution.

[JoeBlough]

Don't blame the schools. With 35 students per classroom, it is not up to the teacher to raise children. Just teach them.

[1Woman4Obama]

It is up to the teacher to identify children who are neglected or abused. She identified it and apparently failed to report. Not that most states take these child abuse and neglect seriously anyway....

[robjh1]

What a pity. The parents should be put in jail. As for the kid, well now he realizes he did a very bad thing and he should be punished. Made an example of. Children must learn their behavior and action have consequences.

"and we are not saved..."

[Hanforder]

Here we go again.

Myth #1 - A child is incapable of knowing right from wrong.

Nonsense. Somehow I knew right from wrong. Never raped anyone as boy or man. Imagine that, I must have been some sort of freakish prodigy. Or perhaps I had responsible parents who passed that knowledge on to me. This boy's folks should do some serious time.

Myth #2 - Rape has NOTHING to do with sex.

Yes it does, like it or not. It's in the definition of the word. If there's no sex, it ain't rape.

Myth #3 - It's society's fault.

Frogwash. It is the fault of this child, his family and his accomplices. To blame it on society is no different than blaming it on Satan, video games or rap music. A choice was made, and society did not make it.

[sf girl]

What do you call penetration with a foreign object then? That ain't sex. Rape is about power and control, not a person being horny.

[Hanforder]

Penetrating what, exactly, with a foreign object? Again, look up the definition. Of course it's not about loving, caring sex, but like it or not, it's at least 50% about sex. To argue otherwise is disingenuous.

[Ivar]

I agree.

[jessicadevyn]

What a simplistic world view. Do you think these kids exist in a vacuum? Do you think had they grown up in a nurturing environment instead of one that condones rape that they would have did this? Do you think the 9-year-old would have raped on his own volition without the older children?

[Hanforder]

Yes, I do think these boys exist in a moral vacuum. That is exactly my point if you read the post. How are we in disagreement, when I am clearly implying that the parents are to blame? What I did not imply was that this child was solely responsible. You really should read things more carefully before assuming that someone else's views are simplistic.

[jessicadevyn]

I don't understand the punative nature of these posts. Yes, what the boy did is horrible but I don't see how putting him in jail would help. Can someone explain to me what putting him in jail is going to accomplish besides making him even more jaded and apathetic than he already is? He is young enough to be rehibilitated. He has obviously no moral compass. Of course something must be done but jail is not the answer. I'll admit I don't know the full answer myself but it's a lot more complicated than jail.

[kcmookie]

Hey Jess, today you and I are on the same side of this conversation. Ridiculous to even entertain incarceration, if we as a society do not have the ability to help a 9 year old develop from a child into an adult and learn the difference between right and wrong, then what does it say about us? To throw this kid into the system would surely be a sign that we are no longer progressing as a society, but rather we are on the decline. It is obvious this child needs help, now what are we going to do about it as a society? The answer is more telling about us then it is about this child.

[Killian92]

It would keep him away from my daughter. . .

[pleurothallis1]

Just the same way our going to war in 2003 kept Saddam Hussein away from my sister's kids: A "feel good" measure for you about your child that does not take into account the well-being or negative effects of anyone else.

[jessicadevyn]

There are other ways of keeping him away from your daughter than putting him in jail. There are literally thousands of ways of doing so than locking him up. I doubt he would have did this on his own if it weren't for the older children involved. Putting him in jail is just going to turn him even more violent and ruthless and he will be more of a threat to your daughter.

[sharkie62]

Clealry he is a child but he was also capable of getting sexually aroused and forcing himself on a little girl. Pack animals behave like pack animals. He was the youngest of the three and basically doing what the others were doing. He knew it was wrong. He MUST be punished, however, he must also be educated and rehabilitated. His home sounds devoid of love and nurturing.

[jessicadevyn]

Infants are capable of having erections. Even with adults who rape it's rarely about sexual attraction and everything to do with control. Emotions like fear or exitement can also trigger erections, especially in the very young. Erection does not necessarily equal "sexual arousal".

[swanie]

ALLEGED ! ! !

Youngest of FOUR

HE IS NINE ! ! What were you like at NINE ? ! ? !

Too quick to judge.
.

[ilpostino]

These children are living in households devoid of love and oversight. They have no idea of what is right/wrong, up or down. Putting any of these children in jail guarantees a lifetime of negative outcomes. They need counseling and a nurturing environment.

[miastella]

The parents of these children are the immigrants we let in. I'm not anti-immigrant (well, maybe just a little; we have our own people to worry about). They need to be educated as to what proper parenting is before they get here and they need to be monitored for outcomes. These are parents who came frome a country where every day life is rape, beatings and cultural rejection of their relatives if something doesn't fit a narrow definition. We are responsible to cull through immigrants with a serious misunderstanding of what is accepted in our country. Other countries do it. Otherwise, like in this case we end up spending our tax dollars housing these people for a lifetime. These children? I don't know. Once you've used your body as a weapon, I'm not sure about rehab. It can be done; but I suspect not while in the home of people who inherently believe they have a right to this behavior. I'm so tierd ofthe US beingthe world's social worker when we really don't have the answers.

[sf girl]

Maybe all Americans should have to take classes on "what proper parenting is" as well, right? Lord knows there are many, many American-born and raised people who abuse and neglect their children every day. Immigration is not the problem here.

[sanileo]

This is the most ridiculous statement that i have read on huffpo. and all along you think you were making sense. you sure dont know the statistics of rape in america. i will school u down the line. for you to attribute this unfortunate event to immigration is just shallow or just shows what you are. this rape is not. americans who think have experienced proper parenting are doing worse in other countries. so give us a break ok. your comments come out as being racist.
anyway statistics

At the time they were raped:

22% were under the age of twelve
54% were under the age of eighteen
83% were under the age of twenty-five

Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women,
Department of Justice, 1998

In the Rape in America study, 60% of the women who reported being raped were under 18 years old:
29.3% were less than 11 years old
32.3% were between 11 and 17
22.2% were between 18 and 24
7.1% were between 25 and 29
6.1% were older than 29
3.0% age was not available

You live in a glass house so dont throw stones