[OlgaBorovikovva]

World
Feb 27, 2010

Mum & son rape, kill daughter

BUFFALO (New York) - A MOTHER and her son were charged on Friday in the death of the woman's 23-year-old mentally disabled daughter who investigators said was repeatedly raped, beaten and scalded and had her face pushed into faeces. An Erie County grand jury returned a multi-count indictment against 51-year-old Eva Cummings and her 31-year-old son, Luke Wright, both of North Collins outside Buffalo, in a case that was described by Sheriff's Capt Ronald Kenyon as 'horrendous' and 'beyond description'. Cummings was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly suffocating Laura Cummings in their home on Jan 21 following years of abuse. Both mother and son face additional charges including predatory sexual assault, unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime and endangering a disabled person's welfare. Both have been held without bail since their arrests Jan 30. Arraignment in Erie County Court was scheduled for Monday.

Laura Cummings was repeatedly tied to a chair, all night at times, for the last two years and often with a hood over her head, according to the indictment. She was sodomised with a broomstick, forced to put her face in her own faeces, repeatedly beaten and was scalded with water at least twice before she died, the investigation found. Wright also is charged with several sex offences, including raping his half-sister, District Attorney Frank Sedita's office said. Following their arrests, Kenyon said investigators had found evidence of physical and mental abuse going back to 1995 and that the abuse had escalated in the months before her death. The victim's 22-year-old brother told reporters he had been concerned about his sister's treatment and had called county social services agencies from his Air Force base in North Carolina in an unsuccessful attempt to get her removed from the home. County officials have said confidentiality rules prevent them from discussing individual cases. -- AP