Christine Gelineau is accused of burning her then-18-year-
old son's penis and nipples off with a lighter. The young
man was repeatedly tortured and then coerced to lie that
his wounds were self-inflicted.
At the 53-year-old woman's plea and sentencing hearing,
the victim gave a detailed description of his brutal abuse
sometime between April 10 and 14.
"Dear ex-Mother," he began, reading from a statement as
the woman sat sobbing nearby. "What you did to me is
unforgivable. You beat me, starved me, almost chopped
my penis off, threw my clothes away, wouldn't let me
bathe. You almost killed me by having me take three
antidepressants and two muscle-relaxers.
"Now that I know you're a complete criminal and only
wanted me dead so you could go back to your old life.
You won't be able to attend my graduation or see me go
on to college, so I wish you goodbye. I hope you realize
you have lost everything you had."
Gelineau pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and witness
tampering.
As part of a plea bargain, she was sentenced to nine to 30
years in state prison.
Assistant county prosecutor said the man suffered
permanent nerve damage in his penis when Gelineau
burned it with a lighter.
Gelineau had admitted to detectives that she burned the
tip of her son's penis, but she said she did so only after
he "threatened to have sex with her."
The woman put gloves on because she thought her son
was "dirty," grabbed and twisted his penis and then held a
lighter to it for several seconds, as he screamed in pain.
Gelineau also pressed her son to eat human faeces. She
threatened to burn his genitals if he refused. However,
when the young man complied, Gelineau burned it
anyway.
She also allegedly kneed her son in his face and struck
him repeatedly in the stomach with a pen, but those
charges were dropped as part of the plea bargain.
Though it's unclear what prompted the abuse, prosecutors
said they believe it had something to do with the victim,
who is mentally challenged, no longer receiving financial
assistance from the government because he wasn't
enrolled in school at the time.
The victim was also strangled with a scarf, punched in the
face, his nipples were burnt off with a lighter, his ankle
was twisted until it cracked.
Gelineau abused her son together with another man and
the victim's 29-year-old cousin.
When detectives interviewed the victim for the first time,
he claimed his wounds were self-inflicted. In a subsequent
interview, though, the victim contradicted parts of his
earlier account and said that all three defendants had
carried out the abuse.
The victim is now living with an aunt and uncle, and is
back in school.
The young man remained composed as he read his
handwritten statement in court, never looking at his
mother as he ticked through a list of gruesome abuses.
When he finished, he returned to his seat and buried his
head in a relative's arms, the sound of his mother's sobs
echoing in the background. After a few seconds, he began
crying himself.
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