http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1259894705182640.xml&coll=1

 

LAKE HOPATCONG -- The money ran out first. Then the food.

 

Over three months in 2006, as her five children grew more emaciated and listless by the day, Estelle Walker made no move to find a job and no effort to scrounge up a meal, her kids told a jury today

We were supposed to wait for God to provide," said Walker's oldest daughter, now 21. "And that's what we did."

 

At one point, the daughter said, she and her siblings went 11 days without food. When police were at last summoned to the Sussex County cabin by neighbors, investigators found the children so malnourished they had difficulty talking.

 

More than three years later, three of the siblings took the stand in a Newton courtroom, describing how their mother watched them nearly starve.

 

Walker, 50, of Brooklyn, is charged with four counts of second-degree child endangerment. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison on each count. Walker was not charged in connection with her oldest child because she was a legal adult at the time.

 

The young woman and her two siblings - a 16-year-old sister and a 15-year-old brother, betrayed no resentment toward their mother, speaking in soft, even tones.

 

Under questioning by Sussex County Assistant Prosecutor Frances Koch, they said Walker never tried to get any assistance for her family, either from her estranged husband or from other relatives. She likewise avoided seeking help from two churches near the Hopatcong cabin where they had been staying, the children said.

 

Though she had previously worked as a teacher, Walker made no effort to earn money, her children said.

 

"She never tried to get money or food or get a job," the 16-year-old daughter said.

 

All five children, now in good health, live with their father in Somerset.

 

In 2005, Walker and the children - then ages 8, 9, 11, 13 and 18 - had been placed in the cabin by their church, Times Square Church of Manhattan, to help them escape what Walker claimed was her husband's alcoholism. The cabin is owned by church members who open it for retreats.

 

Walker was due to leave the cabin in May 2006 but refused, saying God had told her to stay, church members have said. The church then cut off her support and began eviction proceedings.

 

The invocation of God has been a theme throughout the trial's first three days. Before the jury entered the courtroom today, public defender Ronald Nicola told Judge N. Peter Conforti that Walker had been refusing to take an active role in her defense.

 

"She says, 'God is my defense,' Nicola told the judge.

 

Nicola asked that Walker be permitted to undergo psychiatric testing.

 

Asked by Conforti why she is not participating in her trial, Walker told him she saw no point in it.

 

"I don't feel the need to continue to go over the documents that we've been going over for three years," she said. "God will defend me."

 

Conforti, noting that Walker was deemed competent to stand trial in 2007 after mental health evaluations, denied Nicola's request for further testing.

 

Last year, Walker rejected a plea-bargain offer that would have required no additional incarceration other than the one year she already served in the county jail, if she agreed to undergo additional psychiatric testing.

 

The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday.

 

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*facepalm*

Why didn't the kids go and ask for food from the Church? It wasn't just the mother, it was all of them who were idiots.

Hm.

I'm not even shocked by this sort of thing anymore.

 

People are stupid.

 

Edit: Hah, that caught me off guard. the children now live in the same county as me.

That's like 20 minutes away from where I live :blink:

Where is your God now?

Where is your God now?

Facepalming at her stupidity.

More laziness than a dependence on religion.

More laziness than a dependence on religion.

 

Right.. Even lazy people eat food. This woman is just plain nuts and I feel sorry for her children.

God helps those who help themselves.

 

I do understand the belief that God will provide, but this is just plain stupid.

Where is your God now?

Facepalming at her stupidity.

He would have a great reason to.

 

That had to be some kind of mental illness. Billions of other religious people realize that they need to actually go and get their food...

I've always held shock news to in the top ten weakest creations of mankind. What is the point of going over this. So one person is cray in the world, what a surprise. Does reading it make you feel better about how not crazy you are? What? Why do you give a [cabbage] about some random nutjob halfway across the world? Why aren't you reading the wallstreet journal? What the hell kinda news is this?

I've always held shock news to in the top ten weakest creations of mankind. What is the point of going over this. So one person is cray in the world, what a surprise. Does reading it make you feel better about how not crazy you are? What? Why do you give a [cabbage] about some random nutjob halfway across the world? Why aren't you reading the wallstreet journal? What the hell kinda news is this?

 

It's just weird news, don't look too much into it man.

I think she misinterpreted something along the lines. She should be punished.

This is insane. For christ's sake, even the Pope would have told her she was an idiot.

Educate someone to believe that a magical being will make it all be okay, then blame him when he leaves the matter in the hands of said magical being. Awwwwriiight!

Educate someone to believe that a magical being will make it all be okay, then blame him when he leaves the matter in the hands of said magical being. Awwwwriiight!

The other several billion didn't seem to have that problem.

Why didn't the kids go and ask for food from the Church? It wasn't just the mother, it was all of them who were idiots.

 

 

Agreed. You'd think the 18 year old at the very least would have the common sense to look for a job. God isn't going to magically make your life better. God gave us churches and the goodness in people so that we can ask them for assistance. Reminds me of a joke about a lady on a skyscraper during a flood (wheere three boats come and she claims she'd rather have god save her)

I've always held shock news to in the top ten weakest creations of mankind. What is the point of going over this. So one person is cray in the world, what a surprise. Does reading it make you feel better about how not crazy you are? What? Why do you give a [cabbage] about some random nutjob halfway across the world? Why aren't you reading the wallstreet journal? What the hell kinda news is this?

Relax Reb.

And who said that religon never hurt anybody?

And who said that religon never hurt anybody?

It's honestly surprising how the anti-religious members of these forums don't realize that they're just as prejudiced as the ones they hate...

:???:

And who said that religon never hurt anybody?

 

No one who studied the crusades, I hope.

And who said that religon never hurt anybody?

It's honestly surprising how the anti-religious members of these forums don't realize that they're just as prejudiced as the ones they hate...

:???:

Religion goes on about how their god is a loving and caring god, do anti-religious people do that? We don't even all say our people are loving and caring.

There's stupid people in the world.

 

Big [bleep]ing deal.

And who said that religon never hurt anybody?

It's honestly surprising how the anti-religious members of these forums don't realize that they're just as prejudiced as the ones they hate...

:???:

 

What prejudice, exactly?

You know, all I can say about that mom is this: