Results tagged “melissasekulski”

Yesterday, a funeral was held for 10-year-old Jaquan Oscar Porter, who was apparently killed by his abusive mother in their Staten Island home. The boy's father, Charles Porter, said, "I'm glad he's not suffering anymore," but was also angry that his ex Melissa Sekulski managed to keep their son from him, "From the Board of Education to the family courts to ACS, nobody helped me see him. No city officials called to help. It just fell down the drain." Porter, who last saw his son alive in 2003, had asked for a court-ordered visitation in 2005, but Sekulski never showed up to that hearing—or to subsequent ones in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Police say that Sekulski, who had pulled Jaquan out of school last year and kept him out of sight, admitted to slamming her son's head into the wall and a long history of abusing him. Porter said at the funeral, "I don't want this to happen to anyone else. I don't want this to happen in vain," and wants other dads to know, "Don't stop fighting. Don't let them tell you that they can't help you."

The Staten Island's DA's office gave some very grim details about the final hours of 10-year-old Jaquan Sekulski's life, after his mother was arraigned on manslaughter charges. Melissa Sekulski was arrested after the boy's unconscious body was found in their apartment Friday night. The prosecutor, who noted the apartment was infested with cockroaches and had no food, said, "The defendant has been physically abusing the victim for years, by her own admission... She thrashed him with a belt and belt buckle and a burned him with the buckle." The boy's headed was smashed against the wall repeatedly on Friday night, but a neighbor, who came to help when he heard the mother's cries and saw fluid coming from Jaquan's nose, told the News, "His mother told me he was having trouble breathing and he wanted to lay down on the floor... I was thinking, poor woman - I was really feeling sorry for her." The News also heard from an inmate, who claimed Sekulski "was telling a lot of people that the kid got out of hand and she just lost it." The S.I. D.A.'s office said the child died of "battered child syndrome."