http://kob.com/article/stories/S659035.shtml?cat=517
Posted at: 11/12/2008 04:14:45 PM
By: Shelton Dodson, KOB-TV, and Joshua Panas, KOB.com
Children testify against parents in abuse case
Sarah and Matthew HeppleIt was an extremely emotional day in court for
a young boy and girl who testified that their parents tied them up for
days and rarely fed them.
Matthew and Sarah Hepple are accused of handcuffing two of their
children, sometimes to a toilet, and feeding them as little as bread
and water for up to a week at a time.
But the defense says something much different, saying the children
suffer from mental illness and have concocted the story against their
parents:
"You're going to hear what those mental illnesses can do to children,
how it affects behavior and the types of behavior they can exhibit is
extremely bizarre and extremely out-of-the-ordinary to you or what
normal people may see in their children," defense attorney Matthew
Coyte told the courtroom.
The Hepples were arrested last year after their teenage daughter says
she untied herself from a wooden pillar inside their remote Valencia
County home and then hitch-hiked into town.
Prosecutors say the child put cat food in her backpack before she
left, saying that's all she could find to eat.
They say the girl was infested with lice and had repeatedly soiled
herself:
"In addition to not being able to eat or drink when the children were
tied up, they were not allowed to go to the bathroom. They had to
eliminate in their own clothes," prosecutor Judith Reed said.
While their daughter was missing, the Hepples moved to Moriarty.
That's where they were arrested and where investigators found one of
their sons who also claims that he was abused in a similar fa****on.
The defense says it will prove both children suffer from Reactive
Attachment Disorder, a condition the defense contends would cause the
kids to hurt themselves and then make up wild accusations.
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