ROBERT WILLIS - 23 Months (2009) - Doylestown/ Philadelphia PA

A Bristol Township couple who abused and neglected their child
so badly that the toddler suffered developmental delays, were
sentenced Monday in Bucks County court in Doylestown.

April Giamo, 27, and John Willis, 31, will each serve state
prison time for assaulting their son, Robert, now 3.

County Judge Jeffrey Finley sentenced Giamo to four to 10 years
behind bars. Willis, who claimed he didn't commit most of the
assaults, but admitted that he did nothing to stop the abuse, was
sentenced to 3-1/2 to 10 years in prison.
Finley also sentenced both parents to 20 years of probation
after their jail terms, and ruled that they aren't permitted to
have any unsupervised contact with any children under age 14.
The judge noted that although mental health experts have
determined that both Giamo and Willis have borderline mental
retardation, their low IQs didn't give them permission to abuse
their son.
"You were both smart enough to know that if you hit a child, and
that child cries out, you have inflicted pain on that child,"
Finley said. "Your intellectual limitations are not an excuse. They
do not give you a free pass."
Giamo and Willis were arrested in November following a lengthy
investigation. Robert had been removed from their care in 2009,
after social workers from Bucks County Children and Youth responded
to a child abuse complaint and found that the baby, then 23 months,
was severely malnourished and didn't know how to sit up or crawl.
Doctors also found that the little boy had suffered numerous
bone fractures, some of which had healed. One wound, doctors found,
was caused by the child's leg being twisted to the point that his hip cracked.
Robert has since been adopted. Deputy district attorney
Nathaniel Spang said the little boy has recovered from most of the
injuries, although he is still developmentally delayed and walks with a slight limp.
In court Monday, Giamo wept and apologized for abusing her son.
"I feel very sad. I wish it never happened," she said.
Her attorney, Charles Jonas, asked the judge to consider his
client's turbulent childhood. Giamo was sexually abused as a child,
spent most of her life in foster care and has mental health issues
as a result, Jonas said.
"Basically, she's never had the tools, never had the ability, to
deal with the stress of parenthood," he said.
Jonas said Giamo regrets the crime, noting that she voluntarily
relinqished her parental rights so her son could be adopted sooner.
"She's happy that her child is doing much better now," Jonas said.
Willis claimed in court that he didn't know how the child
received the bone fractures. He told the judge that he and Giamo
rarely left their Marion Village apartment because they didn't have
money or transportation.
"We failed as parents," he said.
Willis' attorney, Jack Fagan, declined to comment on the sentence.
Spang said he was pleased with the sentence, and glad the judge
imposed the condition he'd requested, that Giamo and Willis not be
permitted to care for any other children.
"Our main interest in the case has been to make sure they
weren't supervising children," Spang said. "They may have had
intellectual difficulties and tough childhoods, but that's not an
excuse for what they did to this little boy."
Before sending them away in handcuffs, Finley remarked that the
parents deserved to be punished for hurting their son.
"What happened to this child is appalling," Finley said.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/parents-jailed-for-abusing-baby/article_f85c9bd5-064e-58a6-90de-f6d1dc176255.html