Mary Vinson (Delaware Attorney General’s Office)
A 46-year-old woman in Delaware will spend the rest of her life behind bars for torturing and abusing her two stepchildren in such a horrific fashion that the presiding judge called it “the most extensive and persistent evil” he had ever encountered.
Kent County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey J. Clark on Thursday ordered Mary Vinson to serve 106 years in a state correctional facility for the “hell” she put the two children through, authorities announced.
Mary Vinson’s husband, 37-year-old Charles Vinson, also received a significant prison sentence, with Clark ordering him to serve 49 years behind bars.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, the Vinsons were convicted in September on dozens of felony counts for the cruel treatment of their children, which included making them stand for long periods, withholding food, force-feeding them, and violently and repetitively physically assaulting the victims.
Mary Vinson pleaded to 42 felonies, including six counts of first-degree child abuse, two counts of kidnapping, four counts of strangulation, and two counts of conspiracy, among other charges. She faced a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 444 years.
Charles Vinson pleaded to 12 felonies, including three counts of first-degree child abuse, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of intimidation and one count of second-degree assault. He faced a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of 158 years.
Charles Vinson (Delaware Attorney General’s Office)
“These children went through hell,” Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a statement following the sentencing hearing. “Now they never have to worry about their abusers again. Even when these cases are strong, they are not easy. The facts are chilling. Knowing what these children experienced weighs on all of us. But knowing that they are safe now is why we do this work. I’m grateful to the prosecutors and law enforcement who rescued them from this torture.”
Prosecutors said that Mary and Charles heartlessly tortured their two children over 20 months beginning in early 2020 when the boys were 9 and 11.
Both children were hospitalized several times then “due to the severity of the abuse,” much of which was caught on video by cameras that the Vinson’s had installed in the kids’ rooms, prosecutors said. The kids have since been transferred into the custody of the Delaware Division of Family Services.
“These are the cases that keep us up at night,” Jennings previously said about the allegations against the Vinsons. “The evidence in this case is disturbing, and my prayers are with the victims who, thank God, are somewhere safe.”
Prosecutors emphasized that Mary Vinson was the parent predominantly responsible for physically abusing the children, while Charles Vinson was aware of the abuse but didn’t help his kids.
According to a copy of the criminal indictment, between March 2021 and March 2022, physical assaults at the hands of Mary and Charles Vinson resulted in the children being hospitalized six times. In April 2021, both of the children were hospitalized on the same day.
The Vinsons also provided false information about the children to medical professionals and doctors when they went to required medical appointments and lied to detectives when they began investigating the circumstances of the children’s injuries.
Before being formally sentenced, both parents addressed the court and apologized for how they treated the victims.
“I didn’t want to hurt them,” Mary Vinson said, according to a report from The Associated Press. “It didn’t start out that way. I loved those boys like they were my own.”
Charles Vinson reportedly said he had “failed” his sons and was “ashamed to be called a father.”
However, their words seemed to have little effect on Clarke, who excoriated the parents before ultimately sending them to prison.
“It will be impossible for (the victims) to forget the evil done to them,” Clarke reportedly told the Vinsons. “They will carry this with them for the rest of their lives.”
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