Ruby Hill has a severely burned grandchild

[Jaded]

http://i37.tinypic.com/2af0iuw.jpg

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Ruby Hill was arrested after her two-year-old grandchild, who suffered burns all over her body, was found inside Hill's house. When authorities went to check on the child, the 81-year-old woman stopped them from conducting the child abuse investigation, police said.

"She was not cooperative with the officers when they came to the house, basically obstructing them in trying to do their job when checking the welfare of the child," Capt. Steve McCool said.

On July 4, Oklahoma City Police were sent to the home and found the child with burns, some of which were scarred or scabbed over while others were new injuries. An EMSA worker tried to comfort the toddler, but could only find a place to touch her on the top of her head that didn't cause the child pain. According to emergency workers, it was the worst case of child abuse they have witnessed.

The initial investigation right now looks as though a family relative from Texas brought the two-year-old girl up to Oklahoma City on July 4," McCool said.

Twelve hours passed before another relative notified the police of the injuries to the child, police said. While the rest of the family wasn't speaking about the issue, the grandmother said she's done nothing wrong and the child's mother is to blame.

Hill was arrested on complaints of obstructing police during their investigation. The child was taken to the hospital where her condition was unknown.

http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=8630675

[Dakota Valkyrie]

She must be the maternal grandma. Why else would she protect the she-devil?

I have 7 grandbabies and if anyone even minimally hurt one I would have the miscreant up on charges so fast his/her head would spin. Well, as fast as possible after they got out of the hospital.

She is no kind of grandmother... deserving of neither the title "grand" or "mother".

[sherrz]

wow she's scary looking.. with mugshots like these, it makes me glad that they don't allow you to call in for hair and makeup beforehand. hopefully the little girl will be okay, i can't even imagine what grandma used to inflict so much pain that they could only touch the top of her head without causing pain :(

[Nell]

Even if the grandma didn't do this to the baby she is obviously more interested in protecting whoever did than getting this baby any medical attention. That in itself is just fuckin awful. The worst burn I have ever had was just a grease burn, and those hurt like a son of a bitch forever. I cannott imagine this little babies pain.

[ceisdsgil]

this is just ...sickening. I do not understand why the grandmother would protect her daughter, if she's the one responsible, why didn't she seek medical attention when she first saw the burns..UGH

~ceisdsgil

Standard Thought Disclaimer:
These are my thoughts. IF you do not like them, Tough! Put on your big girl panties and learn to deal with it.

[mwitzah]

Oooh - this one is intriguing. No matter how it went down, the granny should rot in . . . you know where.

I am curious though, because the first sentence appears to separate the child's injuries from her being at granny's house.

Ruby Hill was arrested after her two-year-old grandchild, who suffered burns all over her body, was found inside Hill's house.

The way it's written, I'm wondering if the child was burned before getting to granny's house, and granny just didn't protect, care for, or report? And how long was this poor baby at wicked granny's house?

How in the world did they find out about this, anyways? I know they got a report - but I'm curious as to who the person filing the report was. Good for them, whomever.

Evil looking woman, by the way. She'd scare the crap out of me if I were a kid around her - with that nightgown thingy hanging off, and most of her hair gone - but just enough left to stand on end and leave me frozen in fear!!

[mwitzah]

Associated Press - July 9, 2008 12:45 AM ET

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Police in Oklahoma City say an 81-year-old woman has been arrested on a complaint of interfering with police business in connection with a child abuse investigation.

Ruby Hill of Oklahoma City is accused of interfering with an investigation after a toddler was burned over much of her body.

Oklahoma City Police Capt. Steve McCool could not say whether Hill was suspected in harming the child. But McCool says several people that were at the home are being interviewed.

Paramedics told police in a report that the burns the child suffered were the worst case of child abuse they had ever witnessed.

Police were called to the residence on Friday on a child abuse call. Officials say the toddler was covered by burns. Some were scarred over, some were scabbed and some appeared to be new.

[Rotten Apple]

wow she's scary looking.. with mugshots like these, it makes me glad that they don't allow you to call in for hair and makeup beforehand.

Well, they could call in make-up, but I don't think hair could do much for her...

[mwitzah]

By Augie Frost
Staff Writer

Police released the name of an 81-year-old woman accused of interfering with an investigation after a toddler was burned over much of her body.
Police arrested Ruby Hill at 938 NE 21 on Friday on a complaint of interfering with police business, Capt. Steve McCool said. He could not say whether Hill was suspected in harming the child but did say several people that were at the home are being interviewed.

The burns the child suffered were "the worst case of child abuse they had ever witnessed,” paramedics told police in a report.

A female paramedic told officers she had tried to comfort the child by patting her but could not find a place on the child's body that wouldn't cause more pain to touch.

She finally found a place to pat the toddler on the top of her head, which was scarred. That helped put the girl to sleep, according to the report.


What happened?
Police were called to the residence about 3:15 p.m. Friday on a child abuse call. The caller said his daughter was at his mother's house and had been severely burned. The toddler's grandmother and uncle were also at the house.
Hill told police the girl was in the house, but she refused to let them in to check on the child without a warrant. The officer opened the door and was grabbed by the woman. Police entered the home and checked on the child.

The toddler was covered in burns. Some were scarred over, some were scabbed and some appeared to be new. The father of the child said the toddler had been taken from him and placed into the custody of his sister in Texas but was returned about 2 a.m. Friday.

The arrested woman refused to cooperate with police and would not explain why the child had been at the house with such injuries for so long. The woman began screaming at the officer and was jailed.

Hill had been released from jail by Tuesday afternoon.

http://newsok.com/paramedics-call-city-abuse-case-worst-theyve-ever-seen/article/3267737/

[Morgana]

Her old ass needs an early pass out of here...preventing help from a severly burned child. I couldn't even follow the story, he said, she said, her house, his house, brought here, taken there, WTF!!! No one in that family cared about protecting and getting help for that baby. Lock the whole damn family up!

I have spare "family tree" diagrams, so we can just get started now...

[nurseronda]

From her picture, I would guess that maybe she suffered the same fate as a child, if not it should happen to her for not protecting this poor child from her mother, if she is not responsible for the burns. If she is responsible, dunk her whole body in boiling oil until she is yelling in pain and then pull her out to let her feel what those burns feel like to the child and refuse medical treatment, do the same to the daughter if she was the one to burn the child. :mad:

[Dakota Valkyrie]

WTF - This got more horrifying. Here's how it's all shaking out:

Ruby Hill is the child's great-great-grandmother.
The great-grandmother, Saundra Patterson, has also been charged and is currently on trial.

http://i34.tinypic.com/amsiab.jpgThe burn marks went from the 2-year-old girl’s head to the bottom of her feet.

Multiple first- and second-degree burns were discovered across the girl’s body last summer as she sat on a chair at a relative’s Oklahoma City home.

What caused the burns? A curling iron, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The girl’s great-grandmother, Saundra Patterson, 65, went on trial Tuesday, accused of repeatedly using the iron to burn 10 percent of her great granddaughter’s body at the family’s Haslet home.

Burn marks also were discovered in the girl’s vaginal area, according to opening day testimony by an Oklahoma emergency technician.

Patterson is charged with injury to a child, and if convicted, she faces a maximum of life in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The Haslet woman is eligible for probation, according to Tarrant County criminal court records.

Patterson, who had custody of the 2-year-old and her then-5-year-old sister, went to visit relatives in Oklahoma City on July 4, 2008.
[...]

When police arrived at the Oklahoma City home, 82-year-old Ruby Hill told police that there wasn’t an injured child in the home. Hill is the great-great-grandmother of the 2-year-old, according to The Oklahoman newspaper in Oklahoma City.

But Oklahoma City patrol Sgt. Gregory Kennedy testified Tuesday that he searched the house and found the girl in a bedroom.

“I picked her up as best as I could so as not to hurt her. She just had marks all over her,” Kennedy said. “She didn’t say a thing.”’
[...]

In November, Ruby Hill was charged with child neglect on suspicion that she failed to seek medical attention for the burned toddler.

Hill told Oklahoma City police on July 4, 2008 that she did not want to believe the burns were that serious, according to The Oklahoman.

Hill also said she didn’t get any assistance for the girl because she didn’t want to cause trouble for Patterson, The Oklahoman reported.

Information was unavailable on the status of Hill’s case.http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1699657.html
The girl, now 3, is fearful of people and is afraid to take baths, said Cecilia Taft, who works at Langston University, just north of Oklahoma City.

Trying to get her to take a bath has become an "act," Taft said.

"If you start water and open that door, she wets on herself," Taft said. "She’s fearful of the bathroom."
[...]

Patterson had cared for her two great-granddaughters since 2007, said Tom Zachary, her attorney. Patterson took custody of the older child after authorities decided that the mother wasn’t providing sufficient care. Months later, several weeks after the second child was born, the mother left the baby on a curb at the father’s house. The father kept the child for about two weeks before taking her to Child Protective Services in Oklahoma City. Authorities then placed the baby with Patterson.

The mother also has a 9-month-old son, born since the abuse allegation against Patterson, according to testimony.

Taft told jurors that she cares for all three children.

The mother, whose parental rights were terminated in 2007, called police about the burn wounds after she saw them during a family gathering at the home of the children’s great-great-grandmother, Ruby Hill, in Oklahoma City.

Zachary said Patterson’s defense will be that the 2-year-old accidentally burned herself while playing with a curling iron. He said she climbed onto a chair in the bathroom and grabbed the iron. Patterson was asleep in the living room when she was awakened by screams, Zachary said. By the time she reached the toddler, she was entangled in the cord, Zachary said.

Patterson didn’t think the injuries were serious enough to take the child to a hospital, Zachary said.

"Her side of the story is much more believable than what prosecutors are alleging," Zachary said. "The issue is whether she should have given her immediate medical attention."
http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/story/1703405.html

[skeptik]

I'm speechless, for once.

[Little Pea]

Oh give me a break! The child did not burn herself! If she did, then why didn't someone call 911 right away?

That's horrible.

[koochie]

Oh give me a break! The child did not burn herself! If she did, then why didn't someone call 911 right away?

That's horrible.

totally agree...they didnt think the burns were that bad? i mean come the F on you pack of wild animals..open your fucking eyes.

[badfish76]

I child wouldn't repeatedly burn themselves. Especially not in the crotch.

The thing that blows my mind is that the mother who had lost custody is the one that reported the abuse. The unfit mother cared more about the child than the appointed guardian.

I pray that the poor baby recovers. She is obviously still suffering from psychological problems related to this abuse.

[BreakTheSilence]

Omg.. I had an over blow up in my face. I had 2nd degree burns because I was able to remain calm and stick my entire face in a sink of cold water. Those burns hurt like hell. The person that did this should suffer. Take a curling iron and burn every inch of their body. I used to use a curling iron when I was younger and I burned myself on accident many times. I know those burns hurt badly. This breaks my heart that this precious baby suffered so badly. May she heal quickly and be placed in a loving nurturing home so she can one day overcome the emotional damage these animals did to her. The great great grandma as well as the great grandma need to spend some serious decades in the nearest prison.

[silvahalo68]

Burns old and new. So baby girl was being tortured long before 2 yo. I'm sick to death reading how the adults in a childs care claim the child inflicted the injuries. No child would continue to burn oneself in that manner, burns were found in her vagina, christ! this is so sick and twisted! These people, everyone involved should get burned repeatedly as a reminder to what they did then thrown in prison to rot!

My son is 2 yo, I just can't imagine inflicting that kind of pain. People who can sit and watch a child suffer and cry in torment and allow it to continue are mean SOB's and soulless bastards! It's repulsive.....I could go on and on as I am just so infuriated!!

Heal sweet one completely, that is my hope and prayer for you.

[backlash]

The thing that blows my mind is that the mother who had lost custody is the one that reported the abuse.

Seems like a bad grandmother raised a worse mother. So CPS gives the child to the bad grandmother because the mother sucks as a parent. What the fuck is that? Did they look to see if the grandmother was any better? She raised a bad mother, so wouldn't they want to see why she sucked so bad? I would think that bad parenting starts with learning bad habits from a bad childhood, and not having anybody to tell you right from wrong. Just because someone is not as bad as another person does not make them fit to raise a child.

[Bay]

Having once accidentally sat on my hair dryer, I can only imagine the pain that poor child suffered.

[dawnmpeters]

A Tarrant County jury deliberated for more than 11 hours over two days before convicting a 65-year-old Haslet woman Friday of burning her 2-year-old great-granddaughter with a curling iron in July 2008.

Jurors later took less than 10 minutes to sentence Saundra Patterson to five years’ probation.

State District Judge Mollee Westfall added five years of probation to the sentence. Patterson was found guilty of one felony charge of injury to a child.

Patterson faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. One of the terms of her probation is that she cannot have contact with children younger than 17.

Patterson had cared for two great-granddaughters, the 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, in her Haslet home from 2007, when authorities terminated their mother’s parental rights, until July 2008. That’s when the mother called Oklahoma City police after she saw burns on her daughter during a July 4 weekend family gathering at the home of the children’s great-great-grandmother.

Medical personnel testified that the first- and second-degree burns were scattered over 10 percent of the girl’s body, from her head to her feet. Burn marks were even found in her vaginal area, according to testimony.

A patrol officer who found the toddler testified that it was hard for him to pick up the girl without hurting her.

Patterson testified Thursday that the girl burned herself after getting a curling iron from Patterson’s bathroom. She testified that the burns were painful but were nothing a little butter from the refrigerator couldn’t soothe.

Jury asked about lesser charge

The jury of nine women and three men began deliberating at 3:15 p.m. Thursday and worked until about 8:30 p.m. before being taken to a hotel and sequestered for the night, court officials said. They resumed deliberating at 9 a.m. Friday.

At one point, they sent the judge a note asking whether they could consider a lesser charge. The note read: "Some jurors want to know if a lesser charge can be considered. Not me, because I’m smart enough to know better."

Westfall said no, that they could consider only guilt or innocence on the charge of injury to a child.

After the guilty verdict was returned, Patterson took the stand Friday afternoon for the punishment phase of her trial.

"I didn’t hurt my great-granddaughter," she said. "It’s scary. I could go to jail for something she did to herself."

Patterson’s attorney, Tom Zachary, said he believed that the sentence was a compromise among jurors.

"Something horrific happened to this little girl, and I believe they felt someone had to be accountable for those burns," Zachary said. "But at the same time, they didn’t have any evidence that proved she did it."

Prosecutor Bill Vassar said he accepted the jury’s decision.

"It doesn’t matter it took them long to reach their decision," Vassar said. "What matters more is that they reached the right decision."

Patterson remained in the Tarrant County Jail on Friday night, where she has been held since her arrest Oct. 8. She is scheduled to be released Monday, court officials said.

The two sisters are in foster care in Oklahoma City, along with a 9-month-old half-brother whom Oklahoma child-welfare officials removed from their mother’s custody.
http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1707566.html
I don't buy that this toddler burnt herself this bad.When a child gets burnt,they normally drop the item and are scared to get near it.Also,how is she going to burn herself in the vaginal area? I call bulls**t!

[peoplesuck]

Agreed. That's a copout bullshit excuse. If a child hurts themselves, they aren't going to keep doing it. They'll be scared to death to go near it.

[skeptik]

Let's just say that she did burn herself (hah), I still think it's your fault if you were dumb enough to leave it out and leave her unattended.

[BreakTheSilence]

I've burned myself with a curling iron before by accident. Let me tell you there is NO way in hell this child would have done it a 2nd time to herself. She would have been screaming in pain from the first burn and would have dropped it.
This woman who inflicted these injuries should be burned over every inch of her body with a curling iron so she can feel what this child did and after they cover her body, they should take 2 curling irons... shove one up her ass and the other in her cunt and leave them in there burning her until she's dead.

[badfish76]

This needs to be merged. I just read the original thread a day or two ago.

FUCKING PROBATION?!?!?!?!?

That 2 year old child did NOT take off her diaper/pull-up and burn her own vaginal area!!! NO WAY!

This is a fucking outrage!

[Bay]

Miscarriage of justice if ever there was one.

[Pene784]

If this same woman had burned an adult in exactly the same way that she burned this child her behind would be in prison for years! why does the legal system treat children like they are less than?