Doctor: Mom starved infant twins to near death
By Megan Matteucci
Twin 13-month-old boys were so malnourished they could barely move and their brains had shrunk, doctors testified Wednesday at the mother's trial.
Skin was hanging from their legs and they had no teeth.
"They were like skeletons," said their aunt LaRea Thornton, who rescued the babies. "Doctors had to put patches on their legs so the bones wouldn't break through [their skin]."
The boys, now almost 3, have since gained about 20 pounds and are healthy, the aunt said.
Their mother, 25-year-old Tessa Zelek, is on trial this week in Clayton County Superior Court on charges she nearly starved the boys to death. She is scheduled to present her defense on Thursday.
On Wednesday, doctors and family members told a jury of 10 women and two men about the condition of the twins.
“I felt the [children] had experienced extreme neglect in the form of medical and nutritional neglect,” Dr. Jordan Greenbaum of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta testified.
Greenbaum cared for Zelek’s twins in November 2007 when their aunt, Thornton, brought them to the hospital.
The boys were dehydrated, extremely underweight and had ulcers on their head and back from not moving, the doctor told the jury.
Their brains had shrunk from a previous visit to the doctor, she said.
“Children malnourished early in life like these children, it will affect the growth of the brain,” said Greenbaum, medical director of the hospital’s child protective center. “Both children were in extreme serious condition when they came in. … A lack of food availability caused the condition.”
Prosecutors said the babies weighed nine pounds each – 20 to 30 pounds under weight. They would have died if left any longer without medical attention, doctors said.
Their mother, Zelek, is charged with two counts of cruelty to children, four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two counts of forgery.
If convicted, she faces 54 years in prison, according to her attorney, Marc Pilgrim.
On Wednesday, Zelek, dressed in a black suit, stared down at the table as doctors outlined her children's injuries.
"It's very difficult to hear some of this stuff," Pilgrim said.
Zelek blames the doctors, arguing that it was their responsibility to give her parenting advice. The boys were showing signs of neglect up to nine months prior to the family intervention, but doctors never pointed it out, Pilgrim said.
"The basic issue we have is bad advice from doctors," Pilgrim said. "When you are that young, you rely on your doctor to tell you how to feed, when to give medicine and when to stop medicine."
The boys' father, James Alvin McCart III, and maternal grandmother, Christiann Zelek, also are charged in the child cruelty case.
McCart is expected to take a plea in the case, his attorney said. The grandmother, a former Henry County schools special education official, is charged with not reporting child abuse to police.
The grandmother found found the malnourished babies inside their Lovejoy mobile home with their parents, who were unresponsive, police said. However, the grandmother did not seek medical attention for the children, police said.
The babies, who spent about a month in the hospital, are now being cared for by their paternal grandparents and aunt. They have not seen their parents, who both remain in jail, since November 2007.
Family members said the boys are slightly behind other 3-year-olds developmentally, but eat frequently.
"They are normal, active 3-year-olds," grandmother Denise Spruill said.
The trial is scheduled to go to the jury late Thursday.
http://www.ajc.com/news/clayton/doctor-mom-starved-infant-150997.html
