SoCal pastor gets life term for abusing 5 girls

[moobu2]

MORENO VALLEY, Calif.—The pastor of a church in a Riverside County strip mall was sentenced to life in state prison Friday for abusing her five adopted daughters, who were beaten daily, fed spoiled food and hidden in a garage.
Jessica Banks, 65, of Moreno Vally was sentenced to 36 years and 8 months in prison along with two consecutive terms of 15 years to life, said Michael Jeandron, a spokesman for the county district attorney's office.

Superior Court Judge Richard Hanscom in Riverside described it as the worst abuse case he had seen. However, the Moreno Valley woman denied any wrongdoing and her attorney said an appeal was planned. Banks was arrested in June 2005, about a month after one of the sisters, a bruised and emaciated 6-year-old, was found curled up on the pavement in front of a tax business at the strip mall. The mall also housed Word of Life Apostolic Church, where Banks was pastor and the children attended school.

Her attorney, James Curtis of Riverside, said it was a storefront church, "fledgling at best," with only a handful of members. It closed after her arrest. Authorities say the girls, who ranged in age from 4 to 11 at the time, were forced to wear two layers of diapers and long dark dresses and lived in a hidden room in Banks' unheated garage.

Banks kicked and beat them daily with cords, sticks, high-heeled shoes, extension cords and belts, fed them spoiled food, made them take sleeping pills and sexually abused two of them with paint sticks, prosecutors claimed.

LInK

[laconicsax]

1. 3...2...1...

-She's not a real Scotsman Christian.
-This has nothing to do with religion
-Her 'church' wasn't a real Church.
-Sigh...another broad brush attack on Christians.
-She's not as bad as Hitler/Stalin/Pol Pot.
-You just want to ban religion.
-She obviously never read the Bible, or else she'd know that Jesus was against child abuse.
-You can't prove she wasn't an atheist.
-Clearly, she was mentally ill.
-This is a Catholic conspiracy.
-Stop disrespecting my beliefs!!!

This condensed opposition comment brought to you by laconicsax.

[jonnyblitz]

2. "religious beliefs are personal so they are above criticism"

that's what some assclown said on a thread a few days back. IF religion is so fucking personal why can't gay folk get married? and that is just one example of how "religion is personal therefore above criticism' is a crock of HORSESHIT.

and criticizing a belief system is NOT bigotry.

[laconicsax]

3. I knew I missed one!

[Control-Z]

7. And if it is so personal

then why don't they shut up and keep it to themselves instead of always talk, talk, talking about it, and trying to push it on the rest of us.

[PassingFair]

11. Preposterous to believe that insanity can HIDE behind religious belief!

Preposterous!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/28/jaycee-dugard-kidnap-garrido

[struggle4progress]

12. Where are you finding any info about her affiliations or beliefs?

Apparently she identified herself as "pastor" of the defunct "Word of Life Apostolic Church," whatever that was -- and it's hard to guess what it was, because there's almost no info

[laconicsax]

14. I found no information and went from there.

[charlie]

4. What a monster

It took 3 years to nail her. Some more details from 2006:

“They described them as consisting of rotten food, rotten milk, because the milk tasted bad, and rotten cheese because they described green spots on the cheese,” Owens said. “They described green spots on the bread.”

Also, “Miss Banks would push pillows on their faces and attempt to choke them,” Owens testified, based on her discussions with the therapist. “She (the therapist) told me the accounts she was given that were very, very detailed and she did not believe the children were making them up.”

The girls told the therapist they attended church school with their adoptive mother and would sit in circles, and candles would be lit and they would talk about Jesus and going to hell, Owens testified.

One of the girls said Banks used a paint stirrer to poke one of her sisters “in the area where she pees from,” according to Owens’ testimony.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/14977/foster-mom-loving-caretaker-to-5-sisters-or-cult-loving-abuser

[imdjh]

8. It's hard to not think of her as mentally ill. I'm not sure it matters if she is.

But it's hard to imagine a sane person behaving this way.

I was thinking about this today. The legal standard is knowing right from wrong, but so many mentally ill people know right from wrong, but don't appear to care. I guess it doesn't matter if the only thing you can do is lock them up, but it's a fascinating area of human function.

[imdjh]

5. The last paragraph sounds rather damning to the system.

That Jessica Banks was 65 years old and had no visible means of support, so one wonders why the children were placed with her at all.

I knew a local woman who also had no visible means of support (that I am aware of) , had HIV, was married to a guy with HIV, lost her first husband to HIV, had one biological child with HIV, and had four or five foster/adoptive kids with HIV. I never thought very highly of her, because what others saw as noble, I saw as compounding what she had already done to her biological children. But the point is that she adopted kids that no one else wanted, with the knowledge that she might well end up burying each and every one of them. Yes, she got all kinds of government and community support, sometimes to the point of seeming excessive (just trust me on this). But when all was said and done, it wasn't any picnic, and the people who decided to place those kids with her made the right decision.

[AllyCat]

6. My God, this is horrifying. How do these girls recover from something like this?

Thank God it's life in prison. She will not have an easy time there. Too bad her girls will pay the price 100 fold.

[imdjh]

9. They might not. Or they might just go on. I have seen both kinds.

Of course, I've also known people who grew up in abusive households who seemed fine but were missing something key but not immediately obvious; like a conscience.

[opihimoimoi]

10. She should be on the GOPs Death List..save some food and water for Humanity

[Strong Atheist]

13. Good ridance to bad rubbish. nt.

[gk88850]

15. Sick asshole

[martymar64]

16. "Christian Morality" at work

She just wanted to be as accomplished as the Catholic Church.

[Crosseyed Jesus]

17. A Man Of..........

Obviously this is a man of doG! Words of admonition.....never trust a religious SOB.