Heart-rending 3 year old Sherin Mathews (adopted from India) death case in Texas, USA; Hats off to Texas state authorities for pursuing justice for the 3 year old
I admire USA for the way their law enforcement agencies try to deliver justice. That sends a clear message to those who live in the USA, that if they commit a serious criminal offence, there is a good probability that they will go to prison for it. This fear of bad consequences for breaking the law, I think, goes a long way to make the USA a country where laws related to serious crime are respected by most residents. Of course, there would be some exceptions where the rich and powerful get away with illegal acts due to high-powered lawyers and influence-peddling. But, in general, I think USA stands out as a large and powerful country where serious crime typically has bad consequences for the perpetrators.
The Sherin Mathews case really shows how great USA law enforcement can be. The Dallas, Texas law enforcement folks fought for justice for a 3 year old who was adopted from India, by Indian immigrants (Indian-Americans) to USA. Sherin Mathews was reported missing by her father, Wesley Mathews, on or around 7th October 2017. Sherin's body was found in a culvert around 1 km. from her home on 22nd October 2017.
The father, Wesley Mathews, confessed that he had abandoned (dumped, some would say) the body of Sherin Mathews in a culvert, and then lied to the police by saying that she had gone missing!
The prosecutor charged that Wesley Mathews murdered the child. Wesley Matthews denies that, saying that she died as she choked on milk or something like that. That account seems to have been shown as very improbable, by scientists. It is important to note that the body seems to have got so badly decomposed by the time it was found that the post-mortem could not properly establish the cause of death, https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/sherin-mathews-murder-case-sherin-mathews-internal-organs-were-eaten-by-maggots-2059706. The forensic pathologist who performed the post-mortem, Dr. Elizabeth Ventura, had the view that "homicidal violence" was the manner in which Sherin died. She also dismissed the possibility of Sherin choking on her milk, telling the jury, "It's not a cause of death that I have run across".. "We have yet to have a case where a child died from drinking milk".
Wesley Mathews was recently sentenced to life in prison where he will be eligible for parole after 30 years. It seems that he will be appealing the sentence.
Articles on the sentencing in this case appeared in The Hindu printed newspaper of yesterday which caught my attention. Here are the two relevant articles:
Sherin mathews case: Father gets life sentence, https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/texas-man-gets-life-sentence-in-3-year-old-daughters-death/article28162860.ece, 27th June 2019
Sherin Mathews case: Orphanage that gave Sherin up for adoption suspected foul play, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sherin-mathews-case-orphanage-that-gave-sherin-up-for-adoption-suspected-foul-play/article28191101.ece, 27th June 2019
Sherin earlier had the name Saraswathi when she was in the now defunct Mother Teresa Orphanage and Childrens Home in Nalanda district of Bihar state in India. The secretary of the Orphanage had expressed concern about foul play in 2017 itself when they came to know of Saraswathi/Sherin being reported as missing! The news of her death in mysterious circumstances seems to have resulted in some outrage in Bihar with its Deputy Chief Minister then speaking to India's Foreign (External Affairs) Minister then, to perhaps put in a word with USA authorities to ensure proper investigation of the death.
How well have Dallas, Texas, USA law enforcement pursued the investigation and forced Mathews to at least confess to abandoning the body of his child and then lie to police claiming that she was missing!
I looked around for videos on the matter and found some very interesting videos which gave me a better picture of the matter.
Here's an Indian news agency video in 2017: The Quint Reaches out to Sherin Mathews’s Orphanage in Bihar | The Quint, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIuSvgoVMWw, 3 min. 44 secs, published on 1st Nov. 2017.
Saraswathi seems to have been loved in the orphanage. After adoption, perhaps after the Indian-American couple got a biological child, was Saraswathi now named Sherin, not wanted so much by the Indian-American couple? One does not know for sure. The wife of Wesley Mathews did not speak to the media. Perhaps they did love her but there was some horrible accident which Wesley Mathews foolishly tried to cover up, thereby making the police suspect that he murdered Saraswathi/Sherin.
This video covers the sentencing: The final chapter in the Sherin Mathews case, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jgBums-N5Y, 3 min. 34 secs, published by WFAA on 26th June 2019.
This video shows some part of the cross-examination: Wesley Mathews cross examined by prosecutors, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxe_9PV8ji4, 4 min. 44 secs, published by The Dallas Morning News on 26th June 2019.
The Sherin Mathews case really shows how great USA law enforcement can be. The Dallas, Texas law enforcement folks fought for justice for a 3 year old who was adopted from India, by Indian immigrants (Indian-Americans) to USA. Sherin Mathews was reported missing by her father, Wesley Mathews, on or around 7th October 2017. Sherin's body was found in a culvert around 1 km. from her home on 22nd October 2017.
The father, Wesley Mathews, confessed that he had abandoned (dumped, some would say) the body of Sherin Mathews in a culvert, and then lied to the police by saying that she had gone missing!
The prosecutor charged that Wesley Mathews murdered the child. Wesley Matthews denies that, saying that she died as she choked on milk or something like that. That account seems to have been shown as very improbable, by scientists. It is important to note that the body seems to have got so badly decomposed by the time it was found that the post-mortem could not properly establish the cause of death, https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/sherin-mathews-murder-case-sherin-mathews-internal-organs-were-eaten-by-maggots-2059706. The forensic pathologist who performed the post-mortem, Dr. Elizabeth Ventura, had the view that "homicidal violence" was the manner in which Sherin died. She also dismissed the possibility of Sherin choking on her milk, telling the jury, "It's not a cause of death that I have run across".. "We have yet to have a case where a child died from drinking milk".
Wesley Mathews was recently sentenced to life in prison where he will be eligible for parole after 30 years. It seems that he will be appealing the sentence.
Articles on the sentencing in this case appeared in The Hindu printed newspaper of yesterday which caught my attention. Here are the two relevant articles:
Sherin mathews case: Father gets life sentence, https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/texas-man-gets-life-sentence-in-3-year-old-daughters-death/article28162860.ece, 27th June 2019
Sherin Mathews case: Orphanage that gave Sherin up for adoption suspected foul play, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sherin-mathews-case-orphanage-that-gave-sherin-up-for-adoption-suspected-foul-play/article28191101.ece, 27th June 2019
Sherin earlier had the name Saraswathi when she was in the now defunct Mother Teresa Orphanage and Childrens Home in Nalanda district of Bihar state in India. The secretary of the Orphanage had expressed concern about foul play in 2017 itself when they came to know of Saraswathi/Sherin being reported as missing! The news of her death in mysterious circumstances seems to have resulted in some outrage in Bihar with its Deputy Chief Minister then speaking to India's Foreign (External Affairs) Minister then, to perhaps put in a word with USA authorities to ensure proper investigation of the death.
How well have Dallas, Texas, USA law enforcement pursued the investigation and forced Mathews to at least confess to abandoning the body of his child and then lie to police claiming that she was missing!
I looked around for videos on the matter and found some very interesting videos which gave me a better picture of the matter.
Here's an Indian news agency video in 2017: The Quint Reaches out to Sherin Mathews’s Orphanage in Bihar | The Quint, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIuSvgoVMWw, 3 min. 44 secs, published on 1st Nov. 2017.
Saraswathi seems to have been loved in the orphanage. After adoption, perhaps after the Indian-American couple got a biological child, was Saraswathi now named Sherin, not wanted so much by the Indian-American couple? One does not know for sure. The wife of Wesley Mathews did not speak to the media. Perhaps they did love her but there was some horrible accident which Wesley Mathews foolishly tried to cover up, thereby making the police suspect that he murdered Saraswathi/Sherin.
This video covers the sentencing: The final chapter in the Sherin Mathews case, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jgBums-N5Y, 3 min. 34 secs, published by WFAA on 26th June 2019.
This video shows some part of the cross-examination: Wesley Mathews cross examined by prosecutors, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxe_9PV8ji4, 4 min. 44 secs, published by The Dallas Morning News on 26th June 2019.
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