Post by huntone on Oct 13, 2010 18:42:52 GMT -5
Zahra Baker's American stepmother has appeared in a US court with her hands and legs shackled as a harrowing photograph emerged of the missing 10-year-old Australian disabled girl suffering what appears to be a black eye.
The photo, taken on a mobile phone by Baker family friend Brandy Stapleton on August 9, appears to show Zahra with a bruise under her right eye.
Ms Stapleton told US TV show, Good Morning America, she took the photograph to cheer Zahra up because the little cancer survivor seemed down at the time, but Zahra's stepmother Elisa Baker told her not to take the picture.
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Elisa Baker and Zahra's Australian father, Adam, remain suspects in the disappearance of the girl, who had her lower left leg amputated five years ago after a battle with bone cancer. The cancer also resulted in Zahra needing hearing aids.
Hardened US law enforcement officers have been emotionally struck by the girl's disappearance.
"I think the images you see, the smile, a handicapped girl that age, is just emotionally upsetting," District Attorney Jay Gaither told reporters after Elisa Baker appeared in North Carolina's Catawba County court.
"Law enforcement doesn't show it, but I think that they are affected by it."
Elisa Baker, 42, wearing a pink prison jumpsuit and with her arms and legs shackled, appeared briefly in the courtroom where she faced an obstruction of justice charge for writing a fake ransom note demanding $US1 million.
The note was found on a car windshield at the family's home in Hickory, North Carolina, on the weekend, before Zahra was reported missing.
Elisa Baker remains in custody on $US40,000 bail and her lawyer, D Scott Reilly, told the court he planned to file a motion to have the bond amount reduced in an attempt to win her release.
When judge Gregory Hayes asked Elisa Baker if she understood the charge against her and if she had any questions for him, she replied in quiet "yes" and "no" answers.
Mr Reilly said his client was "scared to death" in jail, but he declined to tell reporters if she had revealed to him where or what may have happened to her stepdaughter.
Mystery continues to surround Zahra's disappearance, with police investigators in Hickory announcing on Tuesday they believed the young girl had been murdered.
A search by police and cadaver sniffing dogs of bushland owned by a tree trimming services company where Adam Baker works has yet to reveal if Zahra's body is buried on the premises. The search included inspections of mulching machinery and large piles of wood chips.
Police reportedly said Adam Baker was "not exactly co-operative" in the search of the property.
Zahra, who uses a prosthetic leg to walk, was born in the NSW country town of Wagga Wagga and spent time in Newcastle before moving north to Townsville before relocating to North Carolina with her father.
Zahra's mother still lives in Australia.
The mobile phone photograph of Zahra, which apparently shows a black eye, is the latest report that the little girl may have been abused before her disappearance.
Relatives, family friends and former neighbours have come forward describing examples of when Elisa Baker verbally and physically abused Zahra and kept her locked in a bedroom for most of the day.
"Just the way she yelled and screamed at her, and I did see her hit the child a couple of times," former neighbour, Renee Bobbitt, who also said she saw Zahra with black eyes, told America's ABC News.
"I should have called and said something then.
"I wish I had've a million times, because no child deserves anything like this. And it's really got the whole neighborhood upset because we all loved the child."
The photo, taken on a mobile phone by Baker family friend Brandy Stapleton on August 9, appears to show Zahra with a bruise under her right eye.
Ms Stapleton told US TV show, Good Morning America, she took the photograph to cheer Zahra up because the little cancer survivor seemed down at the time, but Zahra's stepmother Elisa Baker told her not to take the picture.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Elisa Baker and Zahra's Australian father, Adam, remain suspects in the disappearance of the girl, who had her lower left leg amputated five years ago after a battle with bone cancer. The cancer also resulted in Zahra needing hearing aids.
Hardened US law enforcement officers have been emotionally struck by the girl's disappearance.
"I think the images you see, the smile, a handicapped girl that age, is just emotionally upsetting," District Attorney Jay Gaither told reporters after Elisa Baker appeared in North Carolina's Catawba County court.
"Law enforcement doesn't show it, but I think that they are affected by it."
Elisa Baker, 42, wearing a pink prison jumpsuit and with her arms and legs shackled, appeared briefly in the courtroom where she faced an obstruction of justice charge for writing a fake ransom note demanding $US1 million.
The note was found on a car windshield at the family's home in Hickory, North Carolina, on the weekend, before Zahra was reported missing.
Elisa Baker remains in custody on $US40,000 bail and her lawyer, D Scott Reilly, told the court he planned to file a motion to have the bond amount reduced in an attempt to win her release.
When judge Gregory Hayes asked Elisa Baker if she understood the charge against her and if she had any questions for him, she replied in quiet "yes" and "no" answers.
Mr Reilly said his client was "scared to death" in jail, but he declined to tell reporters if she had revealed to him where or what may have happened to her stepdaughter.
Mystery continues to surround Zahra's disappearance, with police investigators in Hickory announcing on Tuesday they believed the young girl had been murdered.
A search by police and cadaver sniffing dogs of bushland owned by a tree trimming services company where Adam Baker works has yet to reveal if Zahra's body is buried on the premises. The search included inspections of mulching machinery and large piles of wood chips.
Police reportedly said Adam Baker was "not exactly co-operative" in the search of the property.
Zahra, who uses a prosthetic leg to walk, was born in the NSW country town of Wagga Wagga and spent time in Newcastle before moving north to Townsville before relocating to North Carolina with her father.
Zahra's mother still lives in Australia.
The mobile phone photograph of Zahra, which apparently shows a black eye, is the latest report that the little girl may have been abused before her disappearance.
Relatives, family friends and former neighbours have come forward describing examples of when Elisa Baker verbally and physically abused Zahra and kept her locked in a bedroom for most of the day.
"Just the way she yelled and screamed at her, and I did see her hit the child a couple of times," former neighbour, Renee Bobbitt, who also said she saw Zahra with black eyes, told America's ABC News.
"I should have called and said something then.
"I wish I had've a million times, because no child deserves anything like this. And it's really got the whole neighborhood upset because we all loved the child."