OLYMPIA, WASH, Sept 10: A US adoptive mother accused of starving her 13-year-old Ethiopian-born daughter and locking her outside in the cold, where she died from exposure, was found guilty of homicide in Washington state.
Hana Williams, adopted from Ethiopia in 2008, died of hypothermia in May 2011 after she was found unconscious outside shortly after midnight in temperatures hovering around 4 degrees Celsius, authorities said yesterday.
The girl’s mother, Carri Williams, was convicted of homicide by abuse and of manslaughter linked to the girl’s death, while the father, Larry Williams, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter, a representative of the Skagit County Prosecutor’s Office said yesterday.
“It was a very sad, sad story,” Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney Rich Weyrich told Reuters. “It was something that shouldn’t have happened. Fortunately, we were able to prove the charges, so we were able to hold them accountable.”
The case is among several in recent years that have drawn attention to the vulnerability of children from overseas adopted by US families, among them the death in January of 3-year-old Russian adoptee Max Shatto.
Texas authorities determined that Shatto succumbed to self-inflicted injuries and his parents were not charged in his death, but Russian officials seized on the case as justification of a 2012 ban on adoptions by Americans.
Larry and Carri Williams of Sedro-Woolley – a town about halfway between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia – were arrested in September 2011, more than four months after Hana died in their backyard.
Investigators say Hana endured included beatings, starvation, being forced to sleep outside and use an outdoor toilet and that she had lost a significant amount of weight since her adoption. Prosecutors said her 10-year-old brother, who also was adopted from Ethiopia, was similarly mistreated.
(agencies)
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