The Four LIVIA children - 3 to 13 yo - Norwalk CT

Cops: Man taped ex abusing children

John Nickerson, Staff Writer

Updated 09:43 p.m., Thursday, November 17, 2011

• 
  A West Norwalk woman was arrested Wednesday after police say she was caught abusing her
  
• four children on video cameras secretly set up by the children's father. Police say the tapes
  
• recorded in the home where the children were allegedly abused contain a barrage of screaming,
  
• threats and profanity and a small amount of physical violence. The childrenís mother, Lisa Livia,
  
• 44, was lured to police headquarters late Wednesday afternoon where she was charged with
  
• third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and four felony counts of risk of injury to a child, police
  said.
  Photo: Contributed Photo / CT
  
• 
  

NORWALK -- A West Norwalk woman was arrested Wednesday after police say she was caught abusing her four children by video cameras secretly set up by the children's father.

Police say the tapes recorded in the home where the children, aged 3 to 13, were allegedly abused recorded a barrage of screaming, threats and profanity and a some physical violence.

The mother, Lisa Livia, 44, was charged with third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and four felony counts of risk of injury to a minor after she came to police headquarters late Wednesday afternoon, police said. At her arraignment at state Superior Court in Norwalk on Thursday, Judge Bruce Hudock dropped her bond from $250,000 to $50,000 and prohibited her from contact with the children and their father.

Hudock said although the charges were "most serious," he noted Livia has no criminal record and because the protective orders are in place, the two boys and two girls have been taken "out of harm's way."

Attorney Alice McQuaid, who represented Livia in arguing for a reduced bond, said her client over the past two months was diagnosed with depression and has been under treatment from a doctor.

McQuaid said Livia, who was a stay-at-home mother who has been with the father 13 years but not married, has strong ties to the community.

Arguing for higher bond, prosecutor Joshua Susco called Livia's actions "downright appalling."

Sgt. Lisa Cotto said the arrest came after the father, who owns the home and continues to live there, turned over more than a month's worth of recordings made this summer. He installed a surveillance camera in the house because he suspected Livia was abusing the children, Cotto said.

The tapes showed the physical and verbal abuse escalating, Cotto said.

There was so much yelling and swearing that, according to a police report, "The children appear unaffected and disconnected from the everyday screaming and use of profane language," used against them.

Cotto said one tape shows Livia grabbing her 3-year-old daughter by the arm and flinging her onto a couch while screaming profanities at her.

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