Barbara Atkinson Changes Plea to Guilty
Abused girl's mom faces life
By Jennifer Emily
Originally published in The Dallas Morning News, January 25, 2002
The Hutchins mother of an 8-year-old girl discovered starving in a filthy bedroom closet changed her plea to guilty Thursday in the middle of the prosecution's case against her.
Barbara Atkinson, 30, faces up to life in prison on the charge of serious bodily injury to a child. The guilty plea was not the result of a plea bargain, and prosecutors immediately began presenting witnesses in the punishment phase of the trial.
Barbara Atkinson changed her plea to guilty. Her defense attorney, Brad Lollar, declined to comment on his client's decision to plead guilty.
Ms. Atkinson showed no emotion as she entered her plea but wept often during the punishment phase testimony of the child's foster mother, who hopes to adopt the girl.
The foster mother, Sabrina Kavanaugh, said she and her husband, Bill, tried to adopt the child at birth but were forced to return her to Ms. Atkinson. They began trying adopt the girl again when they realized she was the child in the news who had been rescued on June 11.
"We wanted her back no matter what condition she was in," Mrs. Kavanaugh said. "She was still our little girl. Just because we hadn't seen her in six years didn't mean we didn't love her."
Prosecutors say Ms. Atkinson, along with her husband Kenneth Atkinson, forced the child, who was also sexually abused, to live in the closet and other confined spaces for months or even years at a time. Mr. Atkinson, 34, is charged with injury to a child with serious bodily injury and aggravated sexual assault of a child. He also faces up to life in prison if convicted. No trial date has been set.
Mrs. Kavanaugh spoke through tears several times during her testimony as she told about how difficult it was to part with the girl and endure years of separation.
"I couldn't even touch her bedroom for three years. … To us, it was like she died," Mrs. Kavanaugh said. "I begged Barbie, 'If you don't want her, don't take her.' She said she had to. I said, 'You don't have to do anything.' "
Two other prosecution witnesses—Billy Bowers, who fathered a child with Ms. Atkinson, and a friend, Stacy Wilson—testified about Ms. Atkinson's abuse of the girl. Mr. Bowers said Ms. Atkinson would beat the girl and deny her affection. Ms. Wilson said she asked to allow the girl to live with her after Ms. Atkinson tied the child, then 2, to a bed.
While cross-examining Mrs. Kavanaugh, Mr. Lollar asked several questions implying that it was Ms. Atkinson's mother, Doris Calhoun, who wanted the girl returned.
When reached by telephone at her Canton home, Mrs. Calhoun declined to comment. Mrs. Calhoun said she has spoken to her daughter three times by telephone since Ms. Atkinson was arrested in June but has not spoken with her since September.
The jury of seven men and five women listened intently to Mrs. Kavanaugh's testimony and declined a break offered to them by State District Judge Cliff Stricklin.
The first time the Kavanaughs saw the girl through a mirror at Children's Medical Center, the girl had to hold onto a pole holding a bag of intravenous fluids to walk to the bathroom, Mrs. Kavanaugh said. The girl's broken hair was so white, it was almost transparent, she said. The first time they met with her in person, the child asked when her new parents were coming for her.
The Kavanaughs spent the next few weeks getting to know the girl again, as well as beginning to teach her about the things she had missed.
"She didn't know what it was like to walk through grass barefoot. She thought she was being bitten," Mrs. Kavanaugh said. "In the hospital, I brought her flowers and she asked what they were."
At that time, the girl could only scribble. Now, she draws stick figures and can write her name. She also can sing along to songs by country singer Alan Jackson and performs for the family. She loves to swing on the jungle gym she got for Christmas and is learning to play basketball, her foster mother said.
Mrs. Kavanaugh testified the girl is "very intelligent" and "independent" and continues to improve in school.
Once the Kavanaughs brought the girl to their Van Zandt County home, they soon learned that she had not yet realized she would be fed regularly. She hid dog food under her bed, bread in a closet and a cup in her nightstand. She also took a package of ham from the refrigerator. Mrs. Kavanaugh testified the girl thought she was in trouble when she and her husband found the food.
When the child eats too much, her stomach expands, which is dangerous and common for those who have endured severe malnutrition.
They also had to teach the girl to brush her teeth and proper bathroom hygiene. Because the girl was not used to wearing shoes, her feet would get red and needed to be soaked every night.
The child sleeps with the couple because she is afraid to be alone at night, she said.
