Poor, poor little guy. I only wonder why we all concede that yes, indeed, it is mutilation if a mother cuts up her baby boy's genitals at home w/out medical reason...but if a doctor cuts them up in the hospital w/out medical reason, we hesitate to call it male genital mutilation. The MGM Bill needs to pass in the United States. And soon.
Poor, poor little guy. I only wonder why we all concede that yes, indeed, it is mutilation if a mother cuts up her baby boy's genitals at home w/out medical reason...but if a doctor cuts them up in the hospital w/out medical reason, we hesitate to call it male genital mutilation. The MGM Bill needs to pass in the United States. And soon.
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A Houston woman cut off her 5-week-old son's genitals, a Harris County jury decided on Friday, spurning her claim that an animal had mutilated the infant instead.
Katherine Katie Nadal, a former Anahuac cheerleader, stood emotionless as a jury foreman read aloud that she was guilty of serious bodily injury to a child. The 28-year-old then shook her head as she heard the jury's finding that she used a deadly weapon, an enhancement that may affect her punishment when the trial resumes Monday.
Nadal has said a small dachshund chewed the baby's penis and testicles off while she slept on March 13, 2007.
Members of the baby's family sitting in the audience clutched each other and wept at hearing the verdict. Some buried their heads in their hands and cried.
Jurors deliberated three hours and sent out four notes with questions before announcing their decision.
State District Judge Denise Collins then began hearing evidence in the punishment phase, expected to last through next week. Nadal faces life in prison.
During the punishment phase, Nadal wiped away tears as a urologist who treated the boy testified he would never look normal.
Dr. Edmond Gonzales also said he would be at risk for suicide through adolescence and maybe the rest of his life.
“Suicide is always a risk,” Gonzales said.
Even with reconstructive surgery, the boy's genitals would never experience feeling normally. Gonzales said the boy would be sterile and will need hormone therapy.
‘It's all circumstantial'
During closing statements earlier in the day, Nadal's lawyers, Allen Isbell and Skip Cornelius, argued that there wasn't enough evidence to convict Nadal.
“I have a confession to make,” Cornelius told jurors. “I don't know what happened that day. (Prosecutors) don't know what happened that day. And you don't know what happened.”
There was no direct evidence, no DNA and no weapon in the case, he said. “It's all circumstantial and a lot of speculation.”
A defense expert testified the baby's wound could have been caused by a dog.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Tammy Thomas reminded jurors that Nadal spent the previous day injecting cocaine and then arguing over whether the baby needed to be circumcised. His father, Camden Gothia, 38, opposed it.
“Nobody wants to believe that a mother would do this to her own child,” Thomas said. The prosecutor also said Nadal was apathetic about the baby's horrific injury — both when paramedics arrived and later at the hospital.
“If that were my child, if that's what happened, that dog would be dead, and I would be standing in the parking lot screaming with a bloody baby in my arms.”
OMG!! That is horrific. I am so saddened for that child. I guess she didn't know the hospital would cut up her son for her, or does TX Medicaid cover circ?
ReplyDeleteI just hope the child isn't forced into reconstructive surgery and hormone treatments also.
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