cutheruncleand
aunt,talkingto them,
being disrespectful.
‘I came over hereto correct
her and she wasfighting
against us and Ihadhersitin
a chair and she didn’twantto
move. So when Ireleasedher
and told her to getupshe
didn’t get up.’
When the operatorasked
how Dericka hadgonefrom
being active to
being unable to
breathe, Posey
claimed she
didn’t know.
She said that
the child had
been sitting
on the chair
alone, but
she’d later
changed
her story, admittingeverything
to the police.
Dericka’s adoptivefather
James also admittedto the
police that he heldDericka
down, while Poseystruckher
repeatedly witha belt.
Posey had reportedlytold
Dericka to ‘quit faking’when
the youngster complainedshe
couldn’t breatheaftershe’d
been sitting on herforVICTIM:
Dericka had tried
to run away
15
10 minutes. Had
she intentionally wanted
to harm the girl?
Posey’s defence painted
a different picture.
They didn’t dispute
that Posey had sat on
Dericka, but argued
it wasn’t abuse and
was only meant to
discipline the girl and help
the Smiths out.
‘I’ll suggest to
you [the jury]
that the horrible
conditions in
which this poor
child lived were
caused by James
and Grace Smith,
her adoptive
parents,’ Posey’s
defence lawyer
said in court.
An autopsy report revealed
that there was severe bruising
on the girl’s buttocks and that
she had received ‘injury, on top
of injury, on top of injury’.
It also revealed she’d
been wearing four pairs
of underwear when she died- suggesting she’d tried to
give herself a little extra
padding in preparation for
her next beating.
The police had been called to
the home multiple times in the
18 months before she died, too.
In court, it was argued
that this proved Dericka had
suffered regular and sustained
abuse over some time while
living with the Smiths.
And what about the fact that
Dericka and her sister had run
away multiple times? It was
clear the children were unhappy
at home, and treated poorly.
And what had James and
Grace Smith been doing when
Posey sat on Dericka? They’dboth been present at the
time, but neither of them
had intervened.
Posey’s defence team
maintained she hadn’t meant
to hurt or kill the child, and
that she’d only been trying
to help the Smiths.
But what was the truth?
There was no denying that
Posey had sat on Dericka,
which caused her death.
But had Posey intentionally
meant to harm the girl, or just
give her a fright to stop her
from misbehaving?
The jury would decide.She
claimed
it was an
accident
VERONICA POSEY:
The Smiths’ niece