Seven children have been killed in beatings by their parents since the beginning of this year, while other eight got to hospital with serious body injuries; some of the latter remained disabled for the rest of their lives. In 2008, 15 children were killed in domestic violence, while other dozens were crippled up in beating. These children could have been saved if school teachers, the local police, doctors and other society actors had not been indifferent.
“Our Father Has Crippled Us”
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Maricica was born perfectly healthy but now she is bedridden. The tragedy happened after a cruel beating when her father battered her head and injured her spine. Nicolae thinks he is luckier – he is in a better health condition compared to his sister, although he recently underwent an extremely complicated surgical intervention on his head. Two big scars – one on his abdomen and the other one on his head remind him of the nightmare of his childhood every day. He was about 11 when his father, roaring drunk, stuck a kitchen knife into his stomach. The guy got to hospital more dead than alive. In spite of this, the local policeman and the doctors of the district hospital swallowed the parents’ story. Parents alleged that Nicolae had injured himself incidentally by falling on the knife. Although it is hard to believe such a story, the police and the doctors bought it. The violent father was not even punished. The boy underwent an operation and soon thereafter he returned home … under the same roof with the one who had attempted to kill him.
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“I don’t even want to see his grave although I’ve forgiven him for all the bad things he did to us,” Nicolae says sadly about his father who already died, even though the guy doesn’t remember a single day without scandals and beatings in the house where he grew up.
From One Violent Environment to Another
After some time his mother got married again and soon after that other two children - Nelea and Costel were born. However, life within the new family follows the same scenario as in the previous one – insulting words, beatings and daily threatening. Parents started to drink more often. There is no room in the house for Maricica and Nicolae, although it is due to them that the local authorities helped the family to move from a small room to a three-room apartment which they couldn’t have even dreamt of. It doesn’t matter that the fridge door needs to be supported in order to stay closed or that the furniture is worn out, children say in one voice that their happiness depends on the domestic quietness rather than on the amenities. Nicolae is now the only person to bring income home, although he has a degree of disability.
Nadejda Mocanu, Head of the Vulcanesti Psychological Centre, says that the mother and father risk to be deprived of their parental rights due to their abusive behavior. Most probably, Nicolae will become the tutor of his younger brothers.
“I Killed Him Because He Was Naughty…”
Ana, aged forty, is detained in the Rusca penitentiary together with her daughter who is two years old. The woman seems a model mother, at least at first sight. It is hard to believe that some years ago Ana beat up to death her elder son. “He was naughty … and I beat him hard once and he died,” the woman tells her odious murder serenely. “Did you try to talk to him?” I asked her. “What should I have told him when he wouldn’t listen to me?” Ana says wiping a tear with the back of her hand. Being a hyperactive child, the boy caused troubles to his parents who didn’t find any other solutions than the fist and the belt. She had beaten him many times, but that last time the child didn’t escape with his life. Being scared, the woman called the police, telling them that she found her child dead. Criminal investigations revealed that the murderer of the child was the very one who had brought him into the world.
Authorities Do Not Get Involved
“The cases of abuse against children could be prevented if the bodies responsible for the protection of children’s rights reported such situations promptly. This is the responsibility of the local social assistants, police and mayor. Teachers and medical workers are also in charge of the children’s fate. However, the latter do not always report cases of violence or other forms of child abuse of which they know, because most of the times they just do not want to get involved,” Daniela Popescu, Head of the National Centre for Child Abuse Prevention (CNPAC) says. She says that “people who fail to observe the obligation of reporting cases of violence cannot be sanctioned since there is no mechanism for reporting cases of violence and abuse.”
A survey conducted by UNICEF jointly with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family shows that every second representative of 400 government institutions such as schools, kindergartens, local authorities and the community police stated that they did not know the procedure for signaling cases of violence. The study concludes that this is the reason why such representatives do not show any initiative in signaling and registering cases of violence and other forms of child abuse with the responsible bodies. The healthcare facilities are also inefficient in this respect.
These conclusions are also confirmed by the specialists of the AMICUL (Friend) Center for Psychosocial Assistance to Child and Family (CNPAC) as well. They say that the least number of cases are reported to the Center by teachers and medical workers. Another survey conducted recently by CNPAC among teachers in the capital shows a high level of teachers’ tolerance of parents disciplining their children through beating. “The acceptance by teachers of the beating as a means of education explains their lack of initiative when they come upon situations where a child is a victim of domestic abuse,” Daniela Popescu says.
Inaction Equals Crime
Although the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Combating and the Family Code provide for mandatory reporting of violence cases, most often authorities intervene only in very grave situations, such as a serious injury or death of the child. The Administrative Code provides for the sanctioning of the specialists or the institutions which fail to report about the situation of a child at difficulty within five days. Actually, the experts against violence do not know of any instance where a person holding a responsible position was sanctioned for not having taken action with regard to a child beaten up or abused by his/her parents. In European countries, specialists who hide or do not get involved in settling such cases may be applied a significant fine or sanctioned to imprisonment for up to 5 years.
Tatiana Catana, expert in child rights law, asserts that “although the Moldovan law provides for certain measures to make the specialists accountable, they are not sufficient to ensure the protection of children in cases of violence.”
Case of Violence Overlooked by Local Policeman
The specialists of AMICUL say that there have been many cases in their practice when specialists knew about but could not report very serious cases of child abuse. Due to the indifference of those who should protect children, it often happens that parents beat their children to death or that death occurs as a consequence of maltreatments. This is the case of a girl who died only a few months from birth because of her mother’s neglect. The woman, who was an alcoholic, would drop her down and hit her when she “was angry”. After only two months, the child got to hospital in a very serious state. The doctors found that she had a lot of signs of beatings and also vagina penetration. The policeman investigating the case considered that the scene reported by doctors was not a very serious one and dismissed the case. The mother went home and only a month later the baby girl got back to hospital but that time the doctors could not save her.
Sexual Abuse Overlooked by Doctor
The case of Alina, a 12-years-old teenage girl, is shocking. As early as at the age of five, the girl was molested and during one year she was sexually abused by her biologic father. Most serious is the fact that the girl’s mother knew what was happening to her daughter but didn’t take any action in that respect; the reason is hard to understand. Moreover, one year ago they took the girl to the local doctor to see whether she was not… pregnant. The doctor provided assistance to her but didn’t take any stand on the fact that the girl was being sexually abused at such an early age. Of course the doctor did not signal that fact. This case came accidentally in the sight of AMICUL specialists who managed to bring the criminal to court with considerable efforts. However, the success was only half achieved as the criminal got off scot-free and went back home because of some procedural flaws. The court didn’t even consider that the man could further be a threat for the child. The CNPAC experts have gone through a real war with the authorities before they managed to take the girl out of the hell where she was living. All the petitions to the school principal, the local mayor and the district authorities were just ignored. Now the girl is staying at a rehabilitation centre. Her father is under criminal investigation and her mother risks to be deprived of her parental rights.
Rapist Set Free by Prosecutor
Petrut, a ten-year-old boy from the district of Hancesti learned from an early age that justice is blindfolded. Because of the beatings applied by his parents, the child went blind. Besides, as it was found out later, the boy had been sexually abused by his cousin who was 10 years older. The case was referred to court. However, within the case review, the prosecutor who defended the minor’s interests insisted on … the parties’ reconciliation. The court finally re-qualified de convict’s acts from rape to sexual relations with a minor. It should be noted that rape is sanctioned by detention for up to 15 years; in such case, a reconciliation of the parties is not possible. “The abuser is now free and might abuse other children” Rodica Coretchi, the manager of AMICUL told us. Petrut is at a placement centre now. Doctors are pessimistic about the possibility to recover his sight. Still, the most serious about all this is the fact that “the state, which should protect the boy, did justice to the criminal,” the representatives of AMICUL think.
Neither the governmental nor the nongovernmental bodies know the exact current figure of children abused within their families. The only survey is the one conducted two years ago by UNICEF and two ministries. The data of the study show that one in four children is beaten by their parents. At the same time, one in ten parents acknowledged that they had been violent with their child. Therefore, we wonder what kind of state that is which has no real capacity of protecting children from abuse and neglect.
This investigation has been produced under the Protection and Empowerment of Victims of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence in Moldova Project.