Children Who Kill: Profiles of Pre-Teen and Teenage Killers by Carol Anne Davis Page A

to start school, the family had moved to New York. The years of violence and abuse had already taken their toll and she was old before her time, her little face often vacant. She was desperate to please her teacher – or any adult in the vicinity – but clearly found it hard to approach the other kids. The school told her parents that the five-year-old needed counselling. The couple nodded – but didn’t follow through.

Another brother
    When Shirley was six, her mother presented her with another baby brother. By now Shirley’s brothers were emulating their parent’s violence and were constantly battering each other. Months later Lou fell from a window ledge at work and shattered his legs. He had operation after operation but remained in pain andwas often wheelchair-bound. At other times he managed to walk on crutches – but he couldn’t return to his carpentry work so the family now lived on social security.
    Lou’s temper worsened after the accident and he began to imagine slights. Other adults in the vicinity gave him a wide berth, especially when he began to appear outside holding a submachine gun. Katherine would chainsmoke, nervously sensing the build up of his latest rage. He beat Shirley if she scuffed her shoes or spilt a drink or did any of a million other normal childish things. He even beat her if she didn’t get top grades in school.
    There was a strong humiliation aspect to these punishments, for he would pull down her pants before lashing into her with his belt. She also had to watch and listen as her three brothers suffered similar assaults, and often saw him punching and slapping her mum.

Alienated
    Hurt and frightened, Shirley found it increasingly difficult to make friends at school. The other children had the usual childish concerns of whether they’d win at sports, get good grades, be given that much-wanted toy for Christmas. In contrast, Shirley had to cope with being stripped and beaten by her father – and assaulted by her increasingly hysterical mother who was determined to have some power. Katherine had even threatened her daughter with a knife. Shirley neverknew exactly what she’d return home to, but it was usually ugly and frightening – for example, her father often shaved her brothers’ heads as a punishment.

Statutory rape
    When Shirley was nine the family left the urban excitement of Brooklyn and moved to rural California. Lou started fixing up the house and sent his wife on a long errand to get carpentry materials. He ordered her brothers to leave the house then told Shirley to take off her clothes and show him how much she loved him. Moments later, he took her virginity.
    The thin, frightened child continued to have intercourse forced on her by her father during the next few years. The other schoolchildren and teachers noticed that she had a rancid scent that she was clearly ashamed of. Her childish body was being made to accept demands that it couldn’t handle, and she must have been in terrible pain.
    The physical abuse also continued unabated. Lou got one of his friends to erect a wooden pillory in his backyard. He would put Shirley or one of her brothers into this makeshift stocks so that their head and arms were held in situ. Then he’d yank down their lower garments and beat their bare buttocks with a cord or with his belt. Neighbours heard the children screaming – but as Lou was an imposing figure on a very short fuse they elected not to intervene.

Child porn
    Lou increasingly bought Shirley unsuitably sexy outfits and make-up which she wore to school. At other times he made her pose nude for his camera. He even made sexual passes at her only friend.
    The school strongly suspected sexual abuse – and they knew that there was physical abuse because Lou Wolf had told them he believed in severe physical punishment. But when Child Protection Services approached the family they were met with blank faces and a wall of silence. Shirley believed that her mother knew