Bucks County parents held for trial after children testify about 'whacks,' abuse at home

Throughout her testimony, the 11-year-old kept her head sunk almost into her lap, leaving only the top of her thick strawberry blond hair visible on the witness stand.

The tears started almost immediately after she sat in the box.  Her voice a whisper in a church-silent Ottsville courtroom forcing the judge off the dais and into a seat beside the girl, so he could hear her.

For what seemed like an eternity the girl, known as JV4, answered the attorneys' questions about what happened when her family lived on Green Top mobile home park in Sellersville.

Bucks County authorities allege the girl and her six siblings between the ages of 4 to 16, were criminally neglected and physically abused by their parents Shane and Crystal Robertson, who locked the refrigerator and hit them if they snuck food.

Last month the couple was held for trial in Bucks County court on seven counts each of felony child endangerment and summary animal neglect charges. But at the same preliminary hearing charges of alleged physical abuse of the children, including a felony strangulation against Shane Robertson, were dismissed for lack of evidence.

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At the Oct. 2 hearing, the Robertson children were not called to testify about what they experienced while living in what authorities described as an unsanitary and unsafe mobile home with more than two dozen animals.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get all the information into evidence to make out the assault charges,” prosecutor Brittney Kern said.

But her office refiled charges and on Nov. 14, three of the Robertson children told the same district judge about what allegedly happened to them and their siblings at the hands of their parents.

A fourth child took the stand, but she began whimpering and curled herself into a tight ball with her knees against her chest on the witness stand as soon as Kern asked her to explain what happened when the family lived at Green Top.

A break was called. The girl was escorted outside. She did not return.

The defense attorneys for the couple argued that their clients disciplined their children, but they did not physically abuse them.

They pointed to the children's testimony that they were only hit when they did something wrong, and none of the injuries they described rose to the level of a simple assault.

“I believe that goes to appropriate corporal punishment here,” said Bucks County Public Defender Ken Hone, who represents Shane Robertson. “This is not warranted in this case.”

After more than two hours and multiple breaks, District Judge Gary Gambardella held the couple for trial on simple assault charges against Shane Robertson and conspiracy against him and Crystal Robertson.

The judge said he believed there was enough evidence to allow a jury to decide if the defendants’ discipline was “reasonable” or not.

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What the Robertson girls told the court about life at Green Top

The 11-year-old and her sisters, ages 12 and 16, each provided similar answers when asked about what they allegedly experienced at the hands of their parents, who were stripped of custody earlier this year.

Mostly they were hit on their arms and legs. Sometimes it didn’t hurt for long, other times it hurt for a day. Daddy hit them more than mommy, but mommy told him sometimes that he could hit them, the girls testified.

Mostly they were hit with hands, but sometimes with the black belt that their father used to hold up his pants, they said. Each girl testified they were hit more than once.

The hits — “whacks” is the word they used — left red marks, bruises, and welts.  All the kids got whacked, according to the girls.

Once JV4 testified that she saw her oldest sister, known as JV1, bleeding from her nose where daddy punched her, she testified. He also pulled her oldest sister’s hair when she tried to run away from him, she said.

JV4 said that she didn’t know what JV1 did wrong to get hit.  But the only time they got whacked was when they did something wrong, she said.

What was something she did wrong that she was hit for, Kern asked the girl.

“Steal food, like stuff in the fridge, sodas,” she said.

The sodas were for mommy and daddy and the kids weren’t allowed to drink them, she said.  Authorities allege the refrigerator in the home was secured with a bike lock and the Robertsons admitted it was to keep the kids out.

When you stole a soda what happened? Kern asked.

The girl sobbed.

Why did the kids steal food? Kern asked.

“We were hungry,” she said.

Her 12-year-old sister, JV3, who kept her fist in front of her mouth while speaking, told the court that she couldn’t recall when asked any specific time when she was hit or why.

“My brain erased it,” she said.

She did remember they didn’t really get hit much before moving to Green Top, where authorities say they lived for two years.

When she was asked if anyone outside the house ever saw the bruises or welts on her body, she answered no.

“We never really left the house,” she said.

Authorities allege none of the seven children had attended school until after they were removed from their parents custody earlier this year.

When it was her turn, JV1, wanted both victim advocates who accompanied the kids to sit near her when she testified. She stared at the ground during most of the time.

Like her sisters before her, she avoided looking at her parents.

She testified she couldn’t recall any specific time when her parents hurt her or her siblings.

“I can’t think right now,” she said.

She recalled her daddy once hit her in the face and hurt her nose.

“I don’t know why,” she said.

The couple is expected to go to trial next year. The children remain in protective custody under the supervision of the county Children and Youth Department.

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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Sellersville couple accused of neglecting 7 kids face trial for abuse