Massacre parents tell court of their PTSD

The parents of a Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim live with a complex form of post-traumatic stress disorder and a constant fear that followers of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will kill them, a psychiatrist testified yesterday at Jones’ defamation trial.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, have sued Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems over the harassment and threats they and other parents say they have endured for years while Jones and his Infowars website claimed the 2012 attack that killed 20 first-graders and six school staffers was a hoax or faked.

‘‘The overwhelming cause of their pain is what Jones is doing,’’ said Roy Lubit, a forensic psychiatrist hired by the plaintiffs to review the trauma faced by the parents.

The post-traumatic stress disorder the parents suffered from was not based on a single event, but on constant trauma, and was similar to that endured by soldiers in war zones or child abuse victims, Lubit said.

Heslin and Scarlett Lewis were consumed not just with the memory of their son’s horrific death, but the denials and attacks on them and their son’s legacy they had endured for years. He noted the security the parents hired to protect them at the two-week trial.

Lubit said Heslin had had guns fired at his home and has been accosted on the street. Scarlett Lewis told Lubit that she installed sophisticated surveillance equipment at her home and slept with a gun, a knife and pepper spray at her bedside.

Jones’ attorney, Andino Reynal, tried to attack the credibility of Lubit’s testimony and whether he is biased in favour of the parents, who are seeking at least US$150 million (NZ$237 million) in the case. He noted that Lubit briefly ran for Congress in Connecticut as a Democrat in 2018.

‘‘You don’t like Alex Jones, do you?’’ Reynal asked. ‘‘I don’t like what he does,’’ Lubit answered.

Mark Bankston, attorney for Heslin and Lewis, said the family had gone into isolation under a ‘‘large and professional security team’’ because of an incident that happened since the trial began. He did not provide details of what happened.

‘‘They are in isolation and they are going to stay that way, and all I can tell you is they are terrified right now,’’ Bankston said. –AP