NC - Veletta Edwards/"Smiling Courtyard" arrested for "prolonged" abuse of children

Missizzy

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There's a "guidebook" out there somewhere. I'd like to find it and destroy it. These cases all start to sound exactly alike. One child scapegoated, the identical sick methods of abuse, isolation, a different face shown to the public. With Jeanette Maples' sad case so close to my home and heart, it kills me to have to start this thread. Bless those children....both of them. They will both carry the scars for the rest of their lives--the child who was abused and the one who was favored.


http://www.orientation.laurentian.ca/NR/rdonlyres/CEA7C81F-F7E7-4020-85B8-DD742FA50640/0/1990_13.pdf

CLINTON, NC -- A Clinton grandmother is accused of prolonged sexual and physical abuse of two children in her care. Investigators with the Sampson County Sheriff's Office arrested Veletta Wilkins Edwards, 55..."

and

"...A neighbor said Edwards called herself a religious leader who had turned her mobile home into a church with a cult-like following. "I think they called it Smiling Courtyard, and they had a couple members up there always dressed in white saying that white was symbol of purity..."

and

"....Investigators took two children - aged 8 and 9 - to the Sampson Regional Medical Center for evaluation. Deputies say the 8-year-old had scars all over the majority of her body and numerous burns that were infected due to lack of medical treatment...."

and

"....it was discovered that Edwards allegedly locked the 8-year-old in a room, without a bed or food, for several days at a time with only a bucket as a toilet. Tools were allegedly used to inflict physical injury, and the child was sometimes forced to sit in scalding water as punishment. The 8-old-child was also allegedly subjected to sexual abuse. The abuse was hidden from authorities because the children were homeschooled. Deputies said the older of the two children was not subjected to any physical harm...."


more at link
 
Yes, that's what it says. I don't think certain children are or will ever be smiling. If several people were seen wearing white robes, denoting purity, did they know of the vile child abuse going on in this church/home?

Church At Smiling Courtyard
175 Smiling Lane
Clinton, NC 28328-6440 map
Phone: (910) 592-6873
Website:Information not found

About Church At Smiling Courtyard:

"Church At Smiling Courtyard in Clinton, NC is a private company categorized under Churches, Temples, and Shrines. Our records show it was established in and incorporated in North Carolina. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of 46,000 and employs a staff of approximately 1."
 
Going just by the name who would join that?

Poor kid. How do you recover from that? How do the other kids get over the guilt they feel?

Smiling Courtyard my hinney.

Employs ONE. Yeah, mean, vile, torturing lady in a white robe in a mobile home.
 
And she is the grandmother. This is one time I don't blame the mother for not having her child with her. I have a feeling she may have been too damaged to keep her kids herself, if she is even alive.
 
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/02/24/1073806?sac=Local

"...Next-door neighbor JJ, 54, said she knows Edwards as a religious woman who lives with her husband - a man in his 30s - in addition to the grandchildren. Sometimes she hears loud music coming from the home early in the mornings, but she didn't know anything about any abuse, she said.

"She never bothered me. As a neighbor, I didn't see nothing wrong with her," Jacobs said. "I never seen nothing out of shape about it - nothing except their white uniforms. They just wore white all the time. He told me it was because they were apostles or prophets of God."

Edwards' Facebook account is named "Apostle Veletta Wilkins-Edwards," and in one posting, dated Nov. 28, she writes about the need to return to the teachings of Jesus. "We are failing the people because we have abandoned the Lord and raised ourselves up as objects to be glorified instead of lifting up the name of the Lord," she wrote.

A bearded man who was at Edwards' home Thursday afternoon, dressed fully in bright white with a large golden cross around his neck, said he was in the process of hiring a lawyer. He wouldn't comment on the matter, including whether the family disputed the allegations.

"I have nothing to say right now," he said...."

more at link (plus mug shot alert)


I guess there isn't much one can say, is there? I think Jesus might take issue with her FB comment however. I've read my Bible and these are NOT the teachings of Jesus.
 
I want to throw up... Either the world has gone mad or we've lost our minds and this isn't really happening; but it is. How can these monsters sleep at night, look at themselves in a mirror or face people in the RW knowing what they are doing at home?

This beotch is running around holier than thou, spouting the Bible, while horrifically abusing a young child. What did Jesus say about child abuse? Oh yeah, don't do it! Drown yourself first!

Good luck with that.
 
LCoastMom--It's always been with us. I cited Dickens' sad books about children's lack of rights but there are millions of footnotes in history concerning the subjugation and cruel abuse of children. Now, we just know about the arrests within hours. In the past, there were rarely arrests and these horrible secrets stayed within the family.

I really don't think we're seeing an actual uptick of abuse and I study the statistics frequently. I think we're seeing better reporting of the crimes. We here on WS, have chosen to refuse to look away. In the past, almost everyone turned away. It's agonizing but until we all bear witness, it will continue. Parenting a child is a privilege, not a right.

On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
 
LCoastMom--It's always been with us. I cited Dickens' sad books about children's lack of rights but there are millions of footnotes in history concerning the subjugation and cruel abuse of children. Now, we just know about the arrests within hours. In the past, there were rarely arrests and these horrible secrets stayed within the family.

I really don't think we're seeing an actual uptick of abuse and I study the statistics frequently. I think we're seeing better reporting of the crimes. We here on WS, have chosen to refuse to look away. In the past, almost everyone turned away. It's agonizing but until we all bear witness, it will continue. Parenting a child is a privilege, not a right.

On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
______________
In response to the poem you just posted:

[video=youtube;lk0bKfC8XSE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk0bKfC8XSE[/video]
 
The address for the accused, Veletta Edwards, is on 7 Eagles Ln. in Clinton. The "church" is on Smiling Ln., thus the name Smiling Courtyard (I'm assuming). The two streets are are in a mobile home park and are adjacent to each other. Maybe she moved her trailer and liked the name Smiling Courtyard Church. Although 7 Eagles Church is catchy. Interestingly enough, another relative does live on Smiling Ln., literally steps from Edwards' home..

Ms. Edwards looks to have used a number of names and has been all over NC, WV, GA and PA. Looks as if she's also used a male version of that name. She's either changed her name frequently or had a number of husbands. Her current husband is about the same age as her children. I can find no criminal record. If the children were formally placed with her, that would make sense.

Her legal name is Veletta Latria Stewart Wilkins Edwards. Or at least, that's what I find. No doubt, there's a few I missed.
 
http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/02/24/1073806?sac=Local

"...Next-door neighbor JJ, 54, said she knows Edwards as a religious woman who lives with her husband - a man in his 30s - in addition to the grandchildren. Sometimes she hears loud music coming from the home early in the mornings, but she didn't know anything about any abuse, she said.

A religious woman playing loud music. What she listening to? "Celebration Station"? What better way then to drown out the cries of a child? Blare music.

This case goes against the old adage "A little religion never hurt nobody".

Man, she lived in all those places? Racked up a ton of names. They better double and triple check exactly where she got those kids.
 
There are certain mugshots that give me the sense that this is the face that the victims saw. This is one of them. I've never quite understood why some accused are told to face the camera straight on and others are told to look down at the camera. Children are small. There's something just so chilling about that scowling, cold face looking down.

I figured the same thing about the music, Filly. But mobile homes do not have great insulation. Even with loud music, how could neighbors have heard nothing? Scalding water. Tools?
 
June 2013:

Valetta Wilkins Edwards was convicted this week on 2 counts of Sexual Offenses with a Child and 6 counts of Child Abuse Inflecting Serious Bodily Injury.

Ms. Edwards was ordered to serve no less than 74
years, 4 months and a maximum of 93 years, 10
months, for her crimes which she inflicted on an
innocent 8 year old child...

Both children, ages eight and nine at the time, were taken to Sampson Regional
Medical Center for evaluation. The eight year old had scars all over the majority of
her body and numerous burns that were infected due to lack of medical treatment.
The injuries observed were consistent with prolonged physical abuse.
Through interviews with the children, it was discovered that the grandmother
allegedly locked the eight year old juvenile in a room, without a bed or food, for
several days at a time with only a bucket as a toilet. Additional allegations included
the use of tools to inflict physical injury on the eight year old child’s body and forcing
the child to sit in scalding water as punishment...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...DuRq30rCQFDj0uW9g&sig2=BGi34E1RGNfB5QsjMJmnqQ

9cdad_Grandmother_gets_up_to_93_years_for_child_abuse0_1370467319.jpg
 
I'm noticing a pattern of these abusive monsters blaming their victims - even though the victims are small children!

From the 2013 appeal (which was dismissed):

Defendant also stated she thought T.J. [the victim] had multiple personalities and was schizophrenic...

Defendant told Blackmon that she kept T.J. locked in her room because T.J. had stolen a knife from the kitchen and defendant was afraid for her life.

After Blackmon repeatedly asked defendant to explain T.J.’s injuries, defendant and her husband walked out of the interview.

On 18 January 2011, T.J. was evaluated by pediatrician Dr. Loughlin. Dr. Loughlin testified to what T.J. told him: that defendant had put T.J.’s head into the toilet and flushed it, making T.J. believe she would drown. Defendant would also hold T.J’s head under water in the bathtub until she passed out.

Defendant would pour hot water on her and make her sit in hot water in the bathtub until her skin would stick to the surface of the bathtub.

Defendant would sometimes pour hot water mixed with bleach or ammonia on T.J’s forehead. T.J. also told Dr. Loughlin about defendant biting her ear on multiple occasions, using pliers to pinch her fingers and toes, and hitting her legs and knees with pliers and a hammer.

T.J. told Dr. Loughlin that defendant had removed T.J.’s clothes, restrained her with duct tape, and placed her on an ant mound so she could be, and indeed was, bitten by ants.

S.V. [the other child] was also evaluated by Dr. Loughlin. S.V. stated that she had also been beaten by defendant, had seen defendant “drowning” T.J., and had seen defendant sticking pushpins into T.J.’s thighs.

S.V. told Dr. Loughlin that defendant had directed S.V. to bring her boiling water when T.J. was in the bathtub.

http://law.justia.com/cases/north-carolina/court-of-appeals/2014/13-1290.htmlI
 

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