Hyperlawhypertext legal database In re Johnny O. 240 A.D.2d 179

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In re Johnny O.

240 A.D.2d 179 Court N.Y. App. Div. Decision date 1997-06-05 English

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p. 179
In the Matter of Johnny O. and Another, Children Alleged to be Abused and/or Neglected. Luz N., Appellant; Commissioner of Social Services, Respondent, et al., Respondent.
[658 NYS2d 871]

Order of disposition, Family Court, Bronx County (Harold Lynch, J.), entered October 18, 1994, which placed respondent’s child with the Commissioner of Social Services for a period of up to 12 months upon a finding of abuse, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Sworn testimony of respondent’s children of frequent, almost daily, brutal beatings with a belt over a period of many years, which often left them bruised and in serious pain, was sufficient, standing alone, to prove abuse (Matter of R. Children, 216 AD2d 6 ; Matter of Venus S., 228 AD2d 314 ). Moreover, the testimony of the two children was so internally consistent as to be cross-corroborating, and was also corroborated by other witnesses, including family members who witnessed the beatings and a police officer who recovered handcuffs and instruments of abuse from the family home. Concur—Milonas, J. P., Rosenberger, Wallach, Nardelli and Rubin, JJ.