NYC mom’s religion cited in starvation of children

(RNS) New Jersey prosecutors say a New York City woman charged with starving four of her children in 2006 is using her religious beliefs as an excuse for failing to get help for her family. Sussex County Assistant Prosecutor Frances Koch made that assertion during his cross-examination of a neuropsychologist who had earlier testified that […]

(RNS) New Jersey prosecutors say a New York City woman charged with starving four of her children in 2006 is using her religious beliefs as an excuse for failing to get help for her family.

Sussex County Assistant Prosecutor Frances Koch made that assertion during his cross-examination of a neuropsychologist who had earlier testified that Estelle Walker, 50, of Brooklyn, was delusional and unfit for trial.

Koch also told the jury in Newton, N.J., that Walker failed to make any attempt to get food for the children — ages 8, 9, 11 and 13 — despite numerous chances to do so, such as asking for assistance from a neighbor or her brother, and did nothing as she and the children lost “significant amounts of weight.”


Walker is charged with four counts of second-degree child endangerment.

The prosecutor said Walker was twice warned — in January 2006 and May 2006 — by her church, the Manhattan-based Times Square Church, she would have to leave the cabin at Lake Hopatcong, N.J., where she lived with the children, but took no action.

The church also offered to relocate Walker back to Brooklyn after she refused to leave the cabin, but she turned down the offer, Koch said.

Walker has said she refused to leave the cabin, where she was placed by the church in 2005 after leaving her husband, who she claims was an alcoholic, because God told her to stay. The church, which had been giving Walker financial support, then began eviction proceedings.

Walker and her children went for as long as 11 consecutive days without food after the church cut off its support, according to trial testimony.

Neuropsychologist Joel Morgan, who testified on behalf of the county public defender’s office, said Wednesday that Walker was unfit for trial.

Under questioning by Walker’s attorney, public defender Ronald Nicola, Morgan said Walker suffered from a “delusional disorder” that prevented her from making rational decisions. Morgan gave similar testimony Jan. 7 during a one-day competency hearing, held outside the presence of the jury, where Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti ruled Walker was fit to stand trial.


“She could not tell right from wrong due to her religious thinking and reliance on God,” said Morgan.

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