Judge calls beating his child "discipline"

On the news today, there was a video of a Texas man physically beating, manhandling and verbally abusing his teenage daughter. The incident took place in 2004, when the girl was 16 years old. The YouTube video of the beating shows the father striking his daughter Hillary at least 17 times on her arms, legs and body with heavy blows of a thick leather belt that has been doubled over. He is seen grabbing and restraining her so he can do a better job of flailing away on her while she screams and tries to avoid the blows. The scary part is that the man is a Family Court judge.

And here is what is even scarier. Judge William Adams told the media November 2 that the video "looks worse than it is" and said, "In my mind, I haven't done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing." He said he had found her downloading music and games that she hadn't paid for. But he told her he was sorry, and that makes everything okay now, doesn't it?

Here is a man whose job it is to make rulings on child abuse cases, but he sees nothing wrong with beating his daughter Hillary with all his strength and threatening to hit her in the face with a doubled-over leather belt! Gee, if he does this for downloading games and music on-line, I wonder what he would have done to her if she had come home drunk, missed curfew or went joyriding in his car?

One also has to wonder how many beatings she had undergone previously. There must have been a lot, otherwise she wouldn't have known to have a webcam set up to record him doing it.

Although Hillary secretly taped the beating, she waited seven years before posting on publicly. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to read between the lines here. Like most abused children, she probably thought A. "He's a judge and no one will believe me, even if I tape it;" B. "If I go public, it will destroy my family and it will be all my fault;" C. "My mother will never forgive me" and D. "If I make it public right away, I don't know what he might do in retaliation." Maybe she had tried to tell someone in the past and had not been believed.

In a story in the Daily Mail (UK),  reporters Daniel Miller and Louise Boyle state that, "According to Judge William Adams, all children are 'fantasizers' and their testimony should just be ignored." Does this Adams guy even have a clue about the realities of child abuse? How on earth did he ever get elected as a judge, never mind one dealing with families?

Now here is the kicker. The local police chief said he has asked the state police to assist in investigating the video to see if anything criminal happened.

Hello! A guy beats his daughter with a doubled-over belt, using all his strength in each swing. The entire beating is caught on tape. There are witnesses to the beating. And yet there may not be anything criminal happening? Looks like this particular police chief needs the proverbial rocket scientist to point out what he can't seem to see: a teenage girl being beaten.

If it wasn't her father who beat her, would there be any question it was an assault? If he wasn't a respected Family Court judge, would there be any question it was an assault? If he was beating someone else's child instead of his own, would there be any question it was an assault?

It is no surprise to learn that Hillary's mother left the judge several years ago after undergoing years of abuse at his hands. She is one of the lucky ones. She is still alive. Many women who are abused by their spouses or boyfriends are maimed or killed when they try to leave an abusive relationship. According to the National Organization for Women, more than a thousand women are killed and 4.8-million are injured and/or raped by abusive partners every year in the USA alone. That's right, every year.

You did read that, didn't you? An average of three women die every day and nearly five million are injured each year by a boyfriend or husband. And don't forget, that is just in America.

Here's another stat for you from NOW: "Women who experience physical abuse as children are at a greater risk of victimization as adults." That means that beating your daughter could lead to her being abused by others for the rest of her life, assuming she doesn't either die while in a relationship or as a result of trying to leave an abusive partner.

I hope Hillary Adams escapes that fate. And I hope Judge Adams is never allowed to be in a courtroom again unless he is the one being charged.