Billyman
11-13-2002, 12:18 AM
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/metropolitan/1657592
Father explains why he shackled daughter
By KEVIN MORAN
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
SANTA FE -- A father facing criminal charges because he shackled his daughter's ankles says he did so only after a judge threatened him and his wife with arrest if they failed to prevent the girl's chronic truancy and runaway problems.
And he said his daughter, Heaven Robbins, 12, chose ankle chains over having her wrist tethered to his wrist with a nylon strap.
"A judge told us he was going to have to have us both put in jail if we didn't so something," Ronnie Eugene Robbins, 33, said in a telephone interview Monday, referring to himself and his wife, Paula.
Robbins referred to Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Mike Nelson, who held an Oct. 16 hearing about Heaven's truancy. Robbins said he and his wife sought Nelson's help on Oct. 30 after they learned their daughter continued to be truant.
He was charged with injury to a child and endangering a child after a witness reported seeing the girl in ankle chains at a local convenience store and hearing the father threaten to break the child's leg.
Robbins admitted he told the girl he would break her leg if she overfilled a gasoline can. But he said he wasn't serious and his daughter knew it.
"I don't even punish my kids," said Robbins, who is free on a $20,000 bond. "I don't whip on them or anything like that."
The couple also has a 17-year-old son.
The girl had been wearing chains about 30 minutes before police showed up at a place where he was mowing a lawn for pay as the girl sat in his truck, Robbins said.
The girl was chained to a bed in her parents' room one night earlier in the school year to prevent her from sneaking out of the house, Robbins said.
Those were the only two times the girl has ever been chained, he said.
No court date has been set in his case, Robbins said.
______________________________________________
Do YOU see the irony yet?
Father explains why he shackled daughter
By KEVIN MORAN
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
SANTA FE -- A father facing criminal charges because he shackled his daughter's ankles says he did so only after a judge threatened him and his wife with arrest if they failed to prevent the girl's chronic truancy and runaway problems.
And he said his daughter, Heaven Robbins, 12, chose ankle chains over having her wrist tethered to his wrist with a nylon strap.
"A judge told us he was going to have to have us both put in jail if we didn't so something," Ronnie Eugene Robbins, 33, said in a telephone interview Monday, referring to himself and his wife, Paula.
Robbins referred to Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Mike Nelson, who held an Oct. 16 hearing about Heaven's truancy. Robbins said he and his wife sought Nelson's help on Oct. 30 after they learned their daughter continued to be truant.
He was charged with injury to a child and endangering a child after a witness reported seeing the girl in ankle chains at a local convenience store and hearing the father threaten to break the child's leg.
Robbins admitted he told the girl he would break her leg if she overfilled a gasoline can. But he said he wasn't serious and his daughter knew it.
"I don't even punish my kids," said Robbins, who is free on a $20,000 bond. "I don't whip on them or anything like that."
The couple also has a 17-year-old son.
The girl had been wearing chains about 30 minutes before police showed up at a place where he was mowing a lawn for pay as the girl sat in his truck, Robbins said.
The girl was chained to a bed in her parents' room one night earlier in the school year to prevent her from sneaking out of the house, Robbins said.
Those were the only two times the girl has ever been chained, he said.
No court date has been set in his case, Robbins said.
______________________________________________
Do YOU see the irony yet?