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Texas Mom Gets 99 Years for Cutting Off Son's Genitals

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 18, 2009 5:58 AM CDT
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(Newser) – A Texas mother was sentenced to 99 years in prison last night for cutting off her infant son's genitals, an attack she blamed on the family's dog. Katherine Nadal, now 28, tested positive for cocaine, methadone, and Xanax the day after the mutilation. None of the baby's severed parts were found. At the sentencing Nadal shouted that she "didn't hurt him," leading the baby's father to scream, "You abused him while he was still in the womb!"

At closing arguments, the district attorney showed a picture of the smiling child and told the jury, "This kid has so many problems coming toward him in the future. She took his identity, folks. And she either flushed it or threw it in the trash can somewhere."

Katherine Nadal listens to testimony during her trial in Houston last week. She was sentenced to 99 years in jail for severing her son's genitals.
Katherine Nadal listens to testimony during her trial in Houston last week. She was sentenced to 99 years in jail for severing her son's genitals.   (AP Photo/Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle)
Katherine Nadal listens to opening statements during her trial in Houston last week.
Katherine Nadal listens to opening statements during her trial in Houston last week.   (AP Photo/Nick de la Torre, Houston Chronicle)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 30 comments
reasonator
Aug 23, 2009 1:03 AM CDT
No apologies needed. This is the first constructive and enjoyable conversation on the site I've had with a person who responded to me with reasonable passion. I commend your positive outlook for the boy's future. I still disagree with you, but I am willing to let our comments stand for others to decide, though I have to leave with this thought: I agree that part of life is suffering and learning to cope with difficulties. But it is one thing to cope with serious health difficulties at some point in your life (even early in life), and it is another to start out life at 5 months old with such a debilitating condition. I believe in the preciousness of life. I believe in it so much that if I was his father, I would save him from living and suffering from his condition for all his life and allow him as an infant to be at peace before he was old enough to be aware of the horrific condition his mother left him with, which would deprave him with the fundamental pleasures of a normal life. I believe some people's religious beliefs would get in the way of making that kind of merciful decision. But my beliefs don't get in the way of that decision.
reasonator
Aug 20, 2009 12:25 PM CDT
Euthanasia for the son. (I know. Bring on the negative votes, but I think in rare in cases like this, while the boy is still an infant, it is an appropriate act to spare him from a life of problems and depression.)
reasonator
Aug 20, 2009 3:41 AM CDT
On a related note: Before Nadal severed her son's genitalia she got in an argument about circumcision for the boy. She wanted to have him circumcised, the father did not. I don't know why any person, woman or man, would want to mutilate the genitalia of babies in the form of circumcision. It's done really for religious reasons. The health benefits are minimal, if existent at all. It deprives sensitivity for men during sex. It's a barbaric religiously motivated practice, and it should end. Use your brains, parents. There is no reason to cut off any part of your children.

 
Texas • genital mutilation • castration • mother • prison sentence

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