Mother and Father EQUALLY QUILTY
(CBS) NEW YORK
A pool of three reporters from a group that included the
Post, Newsday, the Times, the Daily News, and myself,
for Channel 2, sat with Cesar Rodriguez in a small office
at Rikers Island late this afternoon for what turned out to
be a wide-ranging interview, centered around him trying
to make people understand why he did what he did to
Nixzmary.
Since I spent a large chunk of the day at another part of
Rikers trying to speak with Nixzmary's mother, I was not
one of the three reporters in the room.
But we all met immediately afterwards to compare notes.
"He wasn't disheveled," Lisa Muòoz of the Daily News
said. "But he did seem...languid. Low key.
His responses were measured. And, we spoke in English.
" A corrections officer with a video camera recorded his
transport to and from the room. If this guy tripped or fell,
they wanted to show it was an accident.
Rodriguez, though, said he hasn't entirely escaped injury
since his arrest. "I got hit by other prisoners when I was
in holding in Brooklyn, going to court.
And I got sucker punched by another prisoner in Bellevue.
" He said a guard at Bellevue threw a copy of yesterday's
Daily News front page at him and said,
"Are you happy now?""I have a lot of guilt.
I'm sorry for all that happened.
I have a problem with my emotions.
It builds up; and I hold it all in.
I emotionally just burst.
"He wanted us to understand it was Nixzmary's
fault: she just wouldn't listen.
He ran through a litany of what he called her "mischief.
"She cut her brothers' and sister's hair.
She threw her mother's books.
She bothered the cat.
She threw the kids' toys.
She stole money.
She burned the 6-month-old baby's leg with a lighter.
"I hit her like this --- " he shows a fist ---
"but not with the knuckles. On the legs.
In her back."
Asked about how she once got a black eye,
he said, "I probably used too much force."
"One time, the 1-year-old put his hand in a bottle of bleach.
I smacked his hand. He never did it again.
If a 1-year-old could learn, why not her?"
About tying her to the chair: "I used a rope. But when
I saw it left marks, I tried to make it not hurt.
I used duct tape, and put it over her arms over a long
sweater, so it wouldn't mark her.
And next to the chair, I put a table, with a pillow,
so she could rest her head while she slept.
"I told her (tying her to the chair) was for her own good.
"I would have to lock her in that room at night,
to protect myself and the kids.
So I could sleep."He denied abusing her sexually.
"I'm a good father. I took them shopping.
I took this family in, and I fed them.
"When I was growing up, my mother used to beat me
with a belt until she couldn't raise her arm anymore.
"Rodriguez says the man he thought was his father
turned out to be his stepfather,
"but he never hit me.
"He said that he got so exasperated with Nixzmary,
he wanted to give her away,
"leave her at the precinct.
"When the caseworkers from the city's Child Services
agency finally arrived, after the school called the
child abuse hot line, Rodriguez says he asked them
and the school for advice on how to handle Nixzmary,
but didn't get it (ACS says they will not comment on
anything Rodriguez says in jail). He says he told a
female caseworker he wanted to give her to her
maternal grandmother in Puerto Rico, but that the
caseworker told him, "No, don't do it. You're going
to regret it. She's going to end up hating you.
"Rodriguez says things in the home took a final,
worse turn after a series of bad events: Nixzmary's
mother miscarried; he lost his job as a security guard
after being told to take a few days with his wife;
they couldn't get the kids anything for Christmas;
the cable was cut; he was home all the time, and
Nixzmary's behavior was ticking him off.
"I felt like this" (he clenches a fist, and brings it from
afar, to his chest). "Everything was closing in.
"He beat Nixzmary more, he admits, but nothing
changed.
He said she would be silent, mostly, during the
beatings, like she was trying to defy or stand up
to him.He didn't want to go into details about the
murder -- "I'm on a hot seat" -- but says he talks
to her ghost at night: "I ask her why she had to put
me through so much trouble." He looks down, wrings
his hands, and cries for the first time.
"I tell her that I'm sorry, and that I love her."
WITH LOVE LIKE THIS? WHO WANT THIS?
AFTER READING THIS I REALIZE
CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES NEED
A NEWLAW. CHILD ABUSE MUST BE
CONSIDERED THE WORST CRIME EVER.
NANCY GRACE WAS RIGHT WHEN
SHE SAID THESE ABUSERS SHOULD
NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY!
Nixzmary's is DEAD and still he says
says It is her fault.
LINK:http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_020061134.html
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