Christine Gelineau
New Hampshire, United States -- A woman has been imprisoned for up to 30 years for torturing her own son.
Christine Gelineau is accused of burning her then-18-year-old son's penis and nipples off with a lighter. The young man was repeatedly tortured and then coerced to lie that his wounds were self-inflicted.
At the 53-year-old woman's plea and sentencing hearing, the victim gave a detailed description of his brutal abuse sometime between April 10 and 14.
"Dear ex-Mother," he began, reading from a statement as the woman sat sobbing nearby. "What you did to me is unforgivable. You beat me, starved me, almost chopped my penis off, threw my clothes away, wouldn't let me bathe. You almost killed me by having me take three antidepressants and two muscle-relaxers.
"Now that I know you're a complete criminal and only wanted me dead so you could go back to your old life. You won't be able to attend my graduation or see me go on to college, so I wish you goodbye. I hope you realize you have lost everything you had."
Gelineau pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and witness tampering.
As part of a plea bargain, she was sentenced to nine to 30 years in state prison.
Assistant county prosecutor said the man suffered permanent nerve damage in his penis when Gelineau burned it with a lighter.
Gelineau had admitted to detectives that she burned the tip of her son's penis, but she said she did so only after he "threatened to have sex with her."
The woman put gloves on because she thought her son was "dirty," grabbed and twisted his penis and then held a lighter to it for several seconds, as he screamed in pain.
Gelineau also pressed her son to eat human faeces. She threatened to burn his genitals if he refused. However, when the young man complied, Gelineau burned it anyway.
She also allegedly kneed her son in his face and struck him repeatedly in the stomach with a pen, but those charges were dropped as part of the plea bargain.
Though it's unclear what prompted the abuse, prosecutors said they believe it had something to do with the victim, who is mentally challenged, no longer receiving financial assistance from the government because he wasn't enrolled in school at the time.
The victim was also strangled with a scarf, punched in the face, his nipples were burnt off with a lighter, his ankle was twisted until it cracked.
Gelineau abused her son together with another man and the victim's 29-year-old cousin.
When detectives interviewed the victim for the first time, he claimed his wounds were self-inflicted. In a subsequent interview, though, the victim contradicted parts of his earlier account and said that all three defendants had carried out the abuse.
The victim is now living with an aunt and uncle, and is back in school.
The young man remained composed as he read his handwritten statement in court, never looking at his mother as he ticked through a list of gruesome abuses. When he finished, he returned to his seat and buried his head in a relative's arms, the sound of his mother's sobs echoing in the background. After a few seconds, he began crying himself.
