The Face of Evil

The descent of the human mind to the most degraded position possible seems to know no bounds.  It is well enough understood that among us live vile predators upon others who have no regard nor compassion for others' well-being, and who feel no compunction about imposing dreadful suffering upon others.  From time to time there are accounts of people whose despicable acts are so remorselessly evil it's difficult to believe them to be plausible.

But these are events that have occurred, and they continue to take place.  Where psychopaths whose genetic composition lacks a fundamental emotion of empathy - feeling anything for any other person other than to view them as potential victims to be exploited for their personal satisfaction - prowl within society.  We know that society is well infiltrated with people from all walks of life who think nothing of harming children.

Most normal people simply cannot imagine the kind of vicious mindset that would exploit the vulnerability and helplessness of children.  And then yet another news item hits the front pages and we are reminded, yet again, of the monsters that live among us.  An eight-year-old boy in Texas, living close to an older boy who had cornered him and raped him, two weeks later was accosted by the thirteen-year-old and doused with gasoline.

The young boy was tied to a tree and set on fire.  To ensure that he told no one that his neighbour had raped him.  Robbie Middleton was discovered still alive.  He was hospitalized, and eventually underwent 200 operations.  His mother spoke about what she saw when she first came across her son: "All of his hair was scorched, and there was skin hanging around his ankles."

Robbie Middleton lived for thirteen years, hospitalized, his wounds never quite healing, burnt beyond recognition.  And three years after Robbie Middleton had been attacked by his neighbour, that neighbour, Don Collins, raped another eight-year old boy.  And this time he was convicted of the assault. 

Robbie Middleton had no wish to speak about what he had experienced at the hands of his attacker.  But because he wanted to ensure that Don Collins would not repeat his horrible attacks on any other boys, he agreed to a deathbed video statement.  For the first time he revealed what had happened to him.  Two weeks before his eighth birthday, "Don Collins pulled my clothes down and started raping me."

On the day of his birthday, "Don grabbed me by my shoulder and threw gas in my face, after that I don't really remember anything", he recounted in his video statement.  Thirteen years after the horrendous attack that he suffered, Robbie Middleton died of skin cancer that doctors linked to the burns he had sustained in that last attack.

"Thirteen years of living hell" was what he experienced before he died.  His parents launched a civil suit for wrongful death against Don Collins.  They won $150-billion in a settlement against Collins.  "I grieved for a long time but after a while, Robert became the same happy-go-lucky child and life was good, life was liveable again", said Robbie's mother.

Her son made the video because, as his family's lawyer said "This is a plea for justice".  "He did it because he was afraid that Don might attack another child and that was Robert's motivation for giving that deposition", his mother explained.  It's a strange notion of justice in fact, when innocents suffer so horrendously, and the law finally catches up to the very personification of evil.