Hohn and Watterson (He’s both the eggman and the walrus.)

Escape prompts abuse charges:

In Newark, Delaware a 12-year-old boy went from door to door looking for an ex-schoolmate of his. He hadn’t seen him in several months and didn’t know exactly where he lived. All he knew was that he lived across the street from the school. When he finally found the house he was looking for the parents of the boy found a barefoot and bruised boy suffering from malnutrition. They took the boy in and fed him for what they say was four hours.

The parents of the friend called police and while on the phone a car pulled looking for the boy. A woman from the car said they were looking for a boy with bare feet. The friend’s father smartly and thankfully said…

Nope, hadn’t seen him. Why don’t I take down your number and if I see him, I’ll give you a call.

Which he promptly turned over to police.

Arrested were the boy’s sperm donor, 41-year-old Robert J. Hohn III, and the step-monster, 39-year-old Shannon Watterson. It turns out that the boy had allegedly been kept locked in his room since September, was only provided minimal food and was only allowed out to go to the bathroom. Considering the bruises I’m going to say that he probably got his fair share of beatings too but that’s just me.

His siblings were allowed to go to school while the boy was ‘home-schooled’. Now before you home schoolers get all righteous on me, save it. While there are many great parents who do a great job in home schooling their kids however the reality is that many abusers use it as an excuse to hide child abuse. I wish the state would do more to prevent this but that’s another rant for another day.

It get’s better. Hohn and Watterson’s attorney says it’s not as bad as it seems. The lawyer says that boy had discipline issues with running away and hurting himself. If I had to hang wet clothes in the rain while being sprayed with a hose in the fall I’d probably want to runaway too. On top of that the only furniture in the boy’s room was a bare bulbed lamp and the door knob was put in backwards so it could only be unlocked from the outside. But it’s no big deal right?

Here’s what I don’t get. Being an actual human being with feelings how could they stand to see their son malnourished like that. Back when my stepson was this boy’s age he came down with a nasty virus so bad that we had to take him to the ER. While he was in the treatment room waiting to be admitted his eyes were so sunken that I thought we were going to lose him. I literally ran from the room in the tears so he wouldn’t see me cry. I could never imagine withholding food intentionally from a child where he wastes away to that point.

Now they’ll know what it’s like to be in a room where they can’t get out. They both should be starved and beaten with a sock full of wood screws.

Thanks to Kelly for the tip.