UNSPEAKABLE ACTS

by Jan Hollingsworth ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1986

Child abuse of the most heinous sort is the unspeakable act examined in this gripping, shocking, and important book. In the summer of 1984, a number of children in the upscale Miami suburb of Country Walk exhibited signs of severe stress: nightmares, sleeplessness, listlessness. Medical examination revealed a horrifying cause: sexual abuse. The source? To parents and police, alerted by tales of wide-spread nursery-school abuse in California, it was obvious: the Country Walk Babysitting Service, run by 17-year-old Iliana Fuster and her 36-year-old husband, Frank. But how to press a case when the testimony of the very young (most of the Florida victims were under 5) is generally considered unreliable, and often inadmissable in court? Enter Joe and Laurie Braga, child psychologists who come up with a startling but admissable innovation: to videotape the children re-creating through the use of dolls the unspeakable acts they were forced to perform. As the Bragas videotape several of the children manipulating dolls into nightmarish positions, an outrageous scenario evolves: rape, sodomy, coprophilia, physical torture, and animal sacrifice, practiced on 36 charges of the Fusters. The monster turns out to be Frank: an abused child himself, a convicted child molester and murderer whom lax laws allowed to open a day-care center. After a long trial full of gut wrenching testimony, both Fusters are found guilty: 10 years for Iliana, 165 for Frank. Sensational but not pandering, occasionally histrionic but generally measured in tone, this is a soul-searing read with crucial lessons for parents and all concerned for the safety of the young.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Congdon & Weed/Contemporary

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION