GUILTY CT - Craig Williams & Selina Robinson for child abuse, New Haven, 2012

The 11-year-old girl walked with a little smile into the courtroom Friday to tell a judge she is glad Craig Williams "cannot hurt any child anymore."

"I am proud of myself," the girl, who endured years of brutal beatings at the hands of Williams, also said, because after she finally found the courage to run out of that house of horrors and tell strangers what was happening to her, "he was arrested and now will be in jail for a long time."

Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford, who sentenced Williams to a 25-year term, to be suspended after he serves 15 years, said it was the worst case of sustained abuse he has ever seen in his many years as a judge.

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Senior Assistant State's Attorney John P. Doyle Jr. briefly listed some of the severe injuries Williams inflicted on his step-daughter: breaking her hip, punching a front tooth out of her mouth, stabbing her, beating her with a leather belt, a flashlight and a baseball bat...

Her nightmare ended Sept. 8, 2012, when police received a report that a little girl was missing from her home on Edgewood Avenue. Shortly afterward, a couple walking their dog in Edgewood Park called police to say a girl was following them. She told them she liked their dog and that she had run away from home. She asked if she could come live with them.

Doyle cited the police report that the girl's mother spoke on the phone with the woman of the couple and said, "Bring her home." But the woman, who had noticed scars, bruises and cuts on the girl's face, refused to do it. She told the mother she needed to come to the park and speak with police...

The mother, Selina Robinson, has pending charges of three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment. She has pleaded guilty to the counts but has not been sentenced...

After the girl got into the ambulance, the paramedic found even more injuries, all over her body.

Fitzgerald quoted the girl saying: "My life has been a nightmare since I was 3 years old. He hates me because I'm not his kid."

According to police, Williams didn't beat the other kids living in his home because they were his biological offspring...


She did not look at Williams, who was sitting about 10 feet away in prison garb and was separated from her by Bagi, Doyle and Senior Assistant Public Defender Joseph E. Lopez. Williams stared straight ahead as the girl's statement was read.

"Craig Williams, remember how you punished me for every little thing," she wrote. "I did my punishment, now you do yours. You got what you deserve and I hope you learned your lesson."

"But I want you to know that you are very lucky that I did not sentence you," she added. "If it was up to me, you would get a death penalty."

Williams, who winced as he heard that last line, stood up moments later and apologized to her.

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