Second teen testifies about abuse in Clarksville child abuse, torture trial

A 15-year-old girl took the witness stand in Judge John H. Gasway’s court Thursday afternoon and described in detail how her adopted mother and adopted sister brutally beat and tortured her from the time she was 9-year old until she was 11 years old.

The girl was the second alleged victim to testify in the case against Windie L. Perry, 55, Earnest Perry, 68 and their adopted daughter, Elizabeth A. Perry, 23, who are charged in a 45 count indictment with

aggravated child abuse, especially aggravated kidnapping and sex abuse against two adopted girls.

Windie and Elizabeth Perry are charged with child rape and aggravated rape.

The 15-year-old’s testimony mirrored that of her older sister and two adopted brother who testified earlier in the week and described a one time good life that was shattered by violent abuse abuse.

“At first it was good, when we first got adopted everything was normal,” the 15-year-old said. “We went places, like shopping, out to eat, to church and we dressed up.”

The 15-year-old and her 17-year-old sister had been in the foster care system for 5 years and came to the Perrys home as young children, the only two not adopted as infants. The abuse began after July 2006, she testified.

“Things were rough,” she said. “We got abused…we got hit on a lot with chains, belts, ropes anything.”

The teen said being confined and locked inside of a dog kennels with her older sister was almost a daily occurrence, and being tied to cot, barricaded in a closet, hit with bats, hammers, chains, a metal pole, an axe, a red hose and belt by Windie and Elizabeth Perry were also frequent punishments for “not cleaning fast enough.”

The teen said Earnest Perry was often gone from the home and did not inflict the “punishments” but also never said anything about what was allegedly happening to them.

Specific incidents involving Windie Perry using jumper cables, a staple gun, pliers on her frenulum and wrapping her face in duct tape and beating her until unconsciousness with a bat were also discussed at length. She also said she was deprived food for as long as five days.

When asked why she didn’t tell anyone about the alleged abuse on March 18, 2008, when her older sister ran away, the 15-year-old replied, “I was scared we would go back.”

J. Runyon, Windie Perry’s attorney, was the only defense attorney to cross exam the alleged victim before court recessed at 5 p.m. Runyon asked her several questions regarding testimony she gave in juvenile court where she made contradictory statements about how she got bruises and allegations against the Perrys.

The alleged victim told a juvenile court judge she got the bruises when she lived in Chattanooga and “fell” and got some scars from “playing outside”

He also had her read from a juvenile transcript where she alleged she was also beat with a plastic rake, brick and had knives rubbed against her leg. The teen said she did not say knives were rubbed against her legs, but she was beat with a plastic rake and hit with a brick.

The alleged victim testified the night before her sister ran away they had been locked in a dog kennel.

She admitted to telling a female officer her “sister was mentally retarded and fought her all the time” and that she “tied herself up”

Runyon also inquired if she had accused others of abusing her, if she told a counselor she would “start acting up” and about her church involvement.

Defense attorneys will continue to cross-exam her Friday morning.