Case Name: In the Matter of Johnny O. and Another, Children Alleged to be Abused and/or Neglected. Luz N., Appellant; Commissioner of Social Services, Respondent, et al., Respondent
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1997-06-05
Citations: 240 A.D.2d 179
Docket Number: 
Parties: In the Matter of Johnny O. and Another, Children Alleged to be Abused and/or Neglected. Luz N., Appellant; Commissioner of Social Services, Respondent, et al., Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 240
Pages: 179–179

Head Matter:
In the Matter of Johnny O. and Another, Children Alleged to be Abused and/or Neglected. Luz N., Appellant; Commissioner of Social Services, Respondent, et al., Respondent.
[658 NYS2d 871]

Opinion:
Order of disposition, Family Court, Bronx County (Harold Lynch, J.), entered October 18, 1994, which placed respondent's child with the Commissioner of Social Services for a period of up to 12 months upon a finding of abuse, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Sworn testimony of respondent's children of frequent, almost daily, brutal beatings with a belt over a period of many years, which often left them bruised and in serious pain, was sufficient, standing alone, to prove abuse (Matter of R. Children, 216 AD2d 6; Matter of Venus S., 228 AD2d 314). Moreover, the testimony of the two children was so internally consistent as to be cross-corroborating, and was also corroborated by other witnesses, including family members who witnessed the beatings and a police officer who recovered handcuffs and instruments of abuse from the family home. Concur—Milonas, J. P., Rosenberger, Wallach, Nardelli and Rubin, JJ.