Last week I was shocked to read a story about a ten year old twin boy, Jonathan James from Texas who was left to die as a result of being denied water for five days. This happened in July in the midst of a heatwave where temperatures rose to over a hundred degrees. The reason he was denied such a basic human need by his father and stepmother was first blamed on a punishment for taking guitar strings from his step brother but it has later emerged he was subjected to this torture because of a few instances of bed wetting which occurred in the weeks prior.
The torture did not stop there though, these evil beings forced the poor child to stand in an un-air-conditioned room by the window where the sun beat down on him and his twin brother Joseph. According to Joseph on the day Jonathan died they also gave him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to eat, now anyone who has eaten one of these will know you really do need a drink to wash it down but Jonathan was refused such a simple request even though he claimed the peanut butter had stuck to his throat.
Joseph, afraid of what would happen to him at the hands of the evil pair if he helped his twin had to watch Jonathan suffer without being able to help. He said "I wanted to do something, but I couldn't. I couldn't do nothing because I would get in trouble". I cannot imagine what kind of an effect this will have on Joseph, even though he was not physically harmed, psychologically he has to live with this for the rest of his life and deal with the mental trauma of watching his brother being tortured so badly he collapsed and in front of him and later died of dehydration.
The twins had been staying with their father Michael Ray James and stepmother Tina Alberson, both 42 for a month as part of a court order. They have since been charged with causing serious bodily harm to a child and are being held in the Dallas County Jail. Jonathan had not wanted to stay with them according to his grandmother, Sue Shotwell who says he contacted her to ask if he could stay with her instead.
This tragic story has not only shocked but saddened me. How could anyone do such a cruel thing to an innocent child, let alone the child's parent? I just don't understand it These people are sick and deserve the worst punishment possible, let them go without basic needs of water, food and light and get a taste of what they have done. My heart goes out to poor Joseph, left without his twin and Jonathan's mother, grandmother and other family members - this is something they will never recover from. A sad, sad tale indeed.