Orphaned kids made up most abuse claims: judge

Allegations of serious abuse lodged against an aunt and uncle by children orphaned in a U.S. car crash were tossed out by a Calgary judge Tuesday.

The three children who were adopted by the couple after the 2006 accident in New Jersey fabricated most of the charges — which included needles being jabbed into their tongues and being forced to eat their own vomit — out of spite due to strict household rules, concluded Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sandy Park.

While their uncle was acquitted of all charges, including knowingly allowing the offences to occur, his wife was convicted of assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm for using objects to spank both nieces and in stretching their mouths and pinching their tongues.

But Park made it clear there was no evidence to suggest much more serious assaults against the children and plenty of indications they fabricated the claims after enduring the corporal punishment and strict household rules.

“I do not accept her evidence whatsoever ... it amounted to evidence of exaggeration and malice implied by the fact (the niece) was angry at (her aunt),” said Park.

The alleged offences occurred between January 2010 and January 2011 after the two girls and one boy were taken in by the Calgary couple.

Park said he accepted testimony the girls were struck with a wooden spoon, electrical cords and pencil by their aunt, acts, he noted, that were accepted by schools in the 1950s and 1960s in the form of lashing students’ hands.

But there was no medical evidence to suggest the aunt inserted needles or a lit barbecue lighter into the girls’ mouths, or knocked them down and dragged either of them by the hair as they’d alleged.

He also rejected claims they’d been beaten on the soles of their feet and had socks stuck in their mouths.

“There was an absence of earlier disclosure,” he said, noting the most serious allegations were made only when the police investigation had begun.

In fact, Park said the children “were treated well by both of the accused” aside from the acts they described, many of them false.

He said photos of the children cuddling with the couple after the allegations were first made further eroded the children’s credibility, he said.

“She recognizes her family cares for her and loves her,” Park said of one of the girls.

Given such serious allegations, Park said he was forced to hold them to a high standard of proof, even if they were made by people aged six to 13 when the assaults occurred.

Even so, the aunt will face sentencing for the two convictions on June 22.

Outside court, Crown prosecutor Ken McCaffrey said he’ll explore appealing the verdict.