Mute Autistic Boy Stabbed in Eyes

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Mute Autistic Boy Stabbed in Eyes

LAUDERHILL, Fla. (AP) -- A woman stabbed her 12-year-old autistic nephew in both eyes with a military-style dagger, likely leaving him permanently blind, police said. The woman then stabbed herself in one eye after attacking the boy on Friday, police said.

Relatives, for unclear reasons, waited more than 10 hours before calling 911, police said. No charges have been filed and no names have been released. The woman gave no reason for the stabbing and the boy is mute, police said.

"The preliminary prognosis is that the child is going to be blind," said Lt. Rick Rocco, spokesman for the Lauderhill Police Department. The boy lives with his grandmother in the South Florida community.

"She adored that child," neighbor Peggy Burrows said. "Sometimes the boy would be running around the lawn in his underwear, but we rarely saw him. They keep mostly to themselves."

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EYE_STABBING?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[Dark]

1. WTF?! Was this like some cult ritual or something?

n/t

[jwirr]

5. That is what first came to my mind - some kind of "faith" healing?

[Dark]

6. I don't know. But it's creepy as hell. The 10 hour thing also doesn't make sense. n/t

[mike_c]

2. "They keep mostly to themselves."

Damn, that's a sad story.

[cornermouse]

9. It's not unusual.

Not everyone can accept a handicapped and/or autistic child and after they grow up into adulthood? Forget about it. Retreat from people who prefer not to associate with you shouldn't be a surprise.

[Demeter]

3. While Non-Crazy Mother Has the State Protective Services Called

to remove her autistic child because an anonymous complaint states that said child is in peril of her life, only because the neighbor objects to the ocassional noise noise and can't get the co-op to order her eviction.

[BlueIris]

15. Hi, Demeter. How's the lawyer-hunt going?

[Demeter]

16. I'm Working On It. Saturdays Are Not the Best Times for That

[xchrom]

4. dear lord god -- what a nightmare.

some things just make you shake your head at the horrors that go on out there.

[kestrel91316]

7. My guess is the aunt either went off her antipsychotic meds, or

was never put on them in the first place. Probably the latter, given the deplorable state of American mental health care.

[Schema Thing]

8. I speculated on another thread that her religous beliefs will

...have played a part. And now, realizing the child was mute and autistic, I'll go further out on a limb and speculate that the woman became convinced demons were behind the boy's afflictions.

Crazy stories, once believed, produce crazy suffering.

[phantom power]

11. I'll second that.

This has "attempted exorcism by religious nutcase" written all over it.

[fasterdemocratkilkil]

10. Well that's good to know.

I'll put that in my "the world is terrible" file.

That's awful. Thanks.

[boricua79]

12. When a woman stabs her boy in the eyes and then herself

that's about as certifiably insane as you're going to get.

And no, she didn't love the boy. That's not love.

[PassingFair]

14. This was the boy's AUNT.

Even weirder....

[Ian David]

13. "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out"

If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee .... And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.--Mt.18:8-9
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/mt/18.html#8

I'm going to guess schizophrenic hallucinations combined with a fundamentalist upbringing.

[SKKY]

17. For fucks sake. A 12-year old kid? In the eyes?

Roses are red, violets are blue. I'm schizophrenic and so and I.

[LisaL]

18. What a horrendous story. So, now the child is going to be blind,

mute and autistic.