David Coleman, 38, of Nebraska, was arrested after allegedly molesting his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter. Coleman brought the youngster to an Omaha storage container, where he repeatedly harmed the infant with his iPhone. His misdeeds were only revealed after the child’s mother chose to go through his phone’s images.
What the mom witnessed drove her to contact the police right away. Coleman videotaped himself repeatedly hanging the toddler by her neck from shelves in the storage container, as discovered on his phone. Coleman resumed his torture as she battled to breathe, violently choking the youngster until she passed out from strangulation — all while recording it.
According to the Omaha World-Herald, the filmed abuse resulted in proof that an experienced law enforcement officer described as “the worst she has seen.” Coleman’s tiny victim is seen trying to breathe in the storage unit tape as he strangled her many times for a minute or more each time.
“The victim was hanging by the neck, losing consciousness and the capacity to breathe.” According to a detective’s affidavit, “the accused [then] could be seen grabbing her roughly by the chest and lifting her with the ligature still tied to her neck to release [the] pressure just enough to allow her to breathe, gasp, cry, and gurgle, before dropping her in a hanging position, only to restart the previous cycle.” The encounter “continued for five minutes,” according to Omaha Police Detective Alexis Boults.
Coleman also videotaped himself strangling the toddler while she sat in her car seat, suffocating her with the same scarf. According to court filings, the scarf was so tightly wrapped around the child’s neck that she couldn’t talk or cry. In a police report, an Omaha detective noted that the victim can be seen on film going red and blue in the face. She looked to try weeping but was helpless to do so as the suspect had pulled the ligature so tightly to prevent her from breathing, speaking, or crying.
Coleman was caught when it was determined that he had placed the scarf around a 2-year- old’s neck and hung her numerous times while she lost and regained consciousness. Coleman received the maximum term after pleading guilty to the reduced charges of two counts of child abuse causing in severe bodily harm.
Coleman, who was also sentenced to four years in jail for being a criminal in possession of a weapon, will not be eligible for parole for at least 42 years. “There was severe violence here,” Douglas County District Judge Duane Dougherty said while passing sentence. “It’s as awful as it gets when someone hurts a child that age, or any age, in that kind.”
Don Kleine, the Douglas County Attorney, had similar comments, noting that in his more than four decades of practise, this case came the closest to fitting the criteria of torture. It’s beyond what anyone would expect a person to be capable of, Kleine added. This is the most distressing child abuse case they’ve ever seen.
Although the youngster survived, it is uncertain how much psychological harm she sustained. It has affected this kid’s life in ways one may never know, said Deputy Douglas County Attorney Molly Keane. It’s a marvel how she survived this torment. But she did, which was fortunate for her, her family, and this defendant. Since he would face first-degree murder charges.
Unfortunately, this was not David Coleman’s first “distressing” child abuse case or run-in with the authorities. Coleman, in reality, was a “nine-time criminal” and a convicted sex offender. He was convicted of first-degree sexual assault on a juvenile in 2004, and he is on Nebraska’s sex offender register. Coleman had already served time for fracturing a child’s bones and burning them with a heating pad. He had barely been out of prison for roughly 4 months when he attacked the 2-year-old daughter.
David Coleman apologised during his sentence hearing, stating he was ashamed and embarrassed of his actions and blaming methamphetamine for both the assault and the videotaping of it. He is disgusted by these activities. Every day is a challenge for him. He is extremely sorry, he said, as if it were news that meth could transform one into a monster. Fortunately, he’s finally where he belongs: behind bars, where he can’t hurt another kid while dealing with his daily “struggles.”
Let this serve as a warning to all of us. To begin with, do not let convicted child predators or drug users alone with your kids. Second, simply say no to drugs. I have no compassion for anyone who causes harm to a kid after abusing methamphetamines. The risks of drug misuse are widely understood. Although some would have us assume it is a victimless crime, stories like this one teach us time and again that drugs represent a major risk not only to the user but to everyone unlucky enough to be near them when they are intoxicated.
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