Son testifies about abuse in Mansa Muhummed case
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
By TAMMY J. McCOY
The Press-Enterprise
A 26-year-old man testified Wednesday that he grew up in a family
where his brothers were often forced to beat each other at their
father's direction and where using the bathroom and eating were
considered privileges.
Michael Boddie, the son of defendant Mansa Musa Muhummed, of Aguanga,
said the degree of physical violence and food deprivation he and his
16 siblings suffered varied, based on his father's whims.
In his family, Boddie testified, children would go three to seven days
without food while their father ate three times a day. When they were
allowed to eat, they were given vegetables, not the foods they wanted.
The children had a bucket in the room that served as a bathroom. The
children were sometimes forced to stand in a corner all night long and
were not allowed to use the bathroom, he said.
Boddie was called by prosecutor Julie Baldwin to testify during
Muhummed's trial on torture and abuse charges at the Southwest Justice
Center.
Muhummed, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that could result in a
sentence of seven life terms in prison if he is convicted. The charges
stem from the treatment of several of the 19 children and two of his
three wives who lived in the home.
The charges against Muhummed include child abuse of 12 children,
torturing seven children by depriving them of food, spousal abuse and
false imprisonment of two of the wives.
Arrested in 1999
He was arrested in April 1999 after one of his wives sent a letter to
Riverside County authorities saying she and another woman were being
forced to live in the garage of the home in the foothills southeast of
Temecula without regular access to bathrooms and with little food. The
children, some from the wives' prior relation****ps, ranged in ages
from 8 months to 25 years.
Boddie said the boys would beat each other at their father's behest.
"If we didn't do it the way he wanted it, he would have us all jump
the other," he testified.
Defense attorney Pete Morreale asked Boddie whether a boy's teeth got
knocked out during one incident.
"We were all told to jump him, so that's what we did," Boddie
answered.
The children were also threatened with violence if they talked to
anyone about family business, Boddie testified.
"He threatened to kill us. All the time my dad would say that," Boddie
recalled. "He had a gun and threatened us with it."
After Muhummed's arrest, Boddie lied to police and told them that he
was never beaten or abused.
Boddie explained that his father coached the children on how to deal
with the authorities.
"We don't turn on the family no matter what," Boddie said.
About a year after authorities arrested Muhummed, Boddie told them the
truth, he said.
Boddie's mother, Marva Boddie, was also arrested and charged with
similar crimes, which Boddie said he believed was outrageous.
Marva Boddie never beat the children and often sneaked food to them,
he said.
Morreale asked Boddie if his mother's arrest prompted him to talk.
"If there had to be a sacrifice between the two, you picked your mom?"
Morreale asked.
"No, I was gonna stand up for what was right," Boddie said.
His mother often got beaten for trying to protect her children, Boddie
testified.
Son Tells of Beatings
Boddie said he was 5 or 6 when his father began the practice of
withholding food from him and his siblings after they moved from
Virginia to Bakersfield.
Muhummed beat and withheld food as punishment when his children did
not wake up on time, did not say Muslim prayers on time, or failed to
do their chores, Boddie said.
"I probably got beat three or four times a day," Boddie testified.
His father would have the children extend their arms and make a fist,
then he hit them on the knuckles with a boat oar, Boddie said.
"He would hit us as many times as he could and if we made him miss we
get hit like three more times," Boddie testified.
Sometimes Muhummed would have the children lie on their stomach, put
their feet in the air and he would hit the soles of their feet with
the oar, Boddie testified.
Riverside County Sheriff's Department began its investigation of
Muhummed days after one of his wives, Laura Cowan, passed a 13-page
letter to a postal clerk chronicling the alleged abuse and the
family's living conditions, according to witness testimony. The letter
was sent to the
Department of Public Social Services, then passed on to law
enforcement.
Muhummed is a Muslim and told one of his wives that his faith permits
having more than one wife, according to court testimony.
The trial resumes Monday at the Southwest Justice Center in French
Valley.
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