There are monsters walking the world who wear human skin.
Many of them are crafty, gifted with a very effective species of cunning. They like to get into positions where they can practice monstrous acts and have it sanctioned–these days, therapy is a real attractive field for these twisted wastes of breath.
I think I read about this case, or one very similar, in Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria, by Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watters. I can’t recall ever being so singularly morally enraged by a text before. Similar focus: monsters wearing human skin, pretending to be “therapists”.
Hopefully it doesn’t take too many incidents like this to kill this particular “practice”.
More on this sort of thing, from the Denver free rag “Westword.”
I just hope there’s a heaven for Candace, these evil adults rot in hell, and anybody who ever thinks this “therapy” is a good idea gets neutered immediately.
No offense to the metabolically challenged on this board…but…
The link tygr posted has a photo of the so-called therapists. I can’t be sure about the one in the background, but judging by her face, she’s probably not much slimmer than the heifer in the foreground. Imagine the weight of both of them pressing on a ten-year-old. A lot of adults wouldn’t have survived.
Ok we all want to kill the ‘therapists’, but what about the supposed mother of this child? She stood by listning to her daughter beg for her life. HOW IN THE NAME OF GOD, WAS SHE ALLOWED TO ADOPT A CHILD!? Isn’t there some sort of screening process? I can’t imagine standing there doing nothing, no matter who’s child it was. Why wasn’t there one adult present who had an ounce of common sense? It’s vile. I don’t know why, but the part that chilled me the most was that they cut off her hair. Why?
I’m so sad for her now. I hope they are convicted and they’re sentenced to Death by Rebirth. It only seems fair.
This should really be in the BBQ Pit, but it did catch people’s attention.
I read a much longer, more detailed–and unforgettably gruesome–account of this in the Los Angeles Times several weeks ago. It was absolutely horrendous. I kept wishing I could go back in time and prevent the whole thing. I could hardly bring myself to keep reading.
Just when you think you’ve heard it all…
“Two therapists face nearly 50 years in prison after being convicted of reckless child abuse in a young girl’s death during a rebirthing therapy session.”
. . .
“The coroner ruled Candace died of asphyxiation. The defense argued that other factors - such as the powerful medications she was taking - may have caused her death.”
There’s more, but really . . . you have to see for yourselves what asses the defense were. Not that they had a case, but still.
Sort of… I’m still not sure why this isn’t premeditated murder, or at least second degree murder. 50 years doesn’t feel like enough for thugs who listened to a child cry and beg for mercy and relief as she was being slowly suffocated.
Yeah, Fenris, I know. But assuming they don’t get early parole - I imagine those parole hearings will be full of those who don’t think they should - those two will die in prison. What were their ages? 48 and 50?
Assuming, of course, they don’t meet with an unfortunate accident in prison.
Premeditated murder works only if they had gone in intending to kill the child. Whether we agree with that or not, it doesn’t seem to have been the case.
It’s things like this that make me lose my respect for humanity as a whole.
I also sometimes wonder why these kinds of people haven’t been locked up in the local zoo, with kids and parents staring wide-eyed at them. Having to endure the humiliation and disgust of thousands of people is, IMHO, a punishment that is far worse than jailtime.
[/rant]
…but I’d like to know what’s to become of the other adults involved, the two assistants who left the room because hearing a little girl beg for help was too much for them (apparently getting the kid the f*ck out of there didn’t cross their minds) and the woman who adopted the girl, brought her to the therapists and stood by while all of this happened.
As for Candice (sp?) not “bonding” with the woman who adopted her…
I’ve always felt little kids are FAR more intuitive than adults usually give them credit for, a possition only strengthened by my nephews. Could it be that Candice “knew” something about the nutcake who thought this “rebirthing” was a good idea long ago, but just couldn’t verbalize it? Hence her lack of “bonding?” Just a thought.
IIRC, the assistants and the adoptive mother face separate trials later this year.
I think you may be dead right about the intuition thing. From what I’ve read, Candace was doing well in school and nobody other than her adoptive mother and therapists noticed any behavior problems. Of course, it could just be natural rebellion as well – while her birth family may not have been ideal caregivers, it seems only natural that she would resent being separated from them and given to somebody else. Either way, I’m very suspicious about this “reactive attachment disorder” diagnosis – it sounds like they were labeling a perfectly normal and understandable reaction as a disease.
ok, I don’t think that link works so here what I got from the Chicago Tribune: 2 therapists get jail terms for death of patient, 10
Items compiled from Tribune news services
June 19, 2001
GOLDEN, COLORADO – Two therapists were each sentenced to 16 years in prison Monday in the death of a 10-year-old girl who suffocated while wrapped in blankets during a “rebirthing” session.
Connell Watkins, 54, and Julie Ponder, 40, received the minimum term for the death of Candace Newmaker. They could have been sentenced to 48 years.
“I failed Candace and I failed her mother,” Watkins told Judge Jane Tidball. “I failed to keep Candace out of harm’s way.”
The girl was covered in blankets and pillows meant to simulate the womb and was encouraged to push her way out during the April 2000 session. Therapists hoped she would emerge “reborn” to bond with her adoptive mother, Jeane Newmaker.
A jury convicted Watkins of reckless child abuse in April. Ponder was convicted of the same charge.
Prosecutor Steve Jensen argued for the maximum sentence, saying Watkins had shown little remorse. He called the therapy “torturous cruelty of a sickening and depraved nature.”
But the judge noted that there was no indication either therapist meant to hurt Candace. Tidball said the sentence would send a powerful message to other therapists.
Newmaker is scheduled to go on trial in November on charges of criminally negligent child abuse.
How could they get the minimum sentence? There was a video of this. How?
And cutting her hair off is dehumanizing, it is horrific. I wonder if it made torturing her easier.