A 34-year-old Oklahoma mother has been sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences after her 11-year-old daughter gave birth in a squalid, faeces-riddled home following rape by her stepfather. Cherie Walker was found guilty on all child sexual abuse and neglect charges in July and will spend the rest of her life in jail.
Walker was arrested alongside her husband, Dustin, 35, after the victim was taken to hospital following the home birth. DNA tests confirmed a 99% certainty that Dustin Walker was the infant's father.
Prosecutor describes 'horrific ordeal'
Assistant District Attorney Janet Hutson told KOTV at the time: "The child is traumatised. She has been through a horrific ordeal. Not only has somebody got her pregnant, but she gave birth at home without medical assistance, and this will be her life for the rest of her life."
Hutson added: "This is one of the most – if not the most – serious child sexual abuse and neglect cases I have ever prosecuted." Prosecutors argued that Cherie Walker was fully aware her partner was abusing her daughter yet failed to intervene.
Stepfather pleads guilty
In a separate development, Dustin Walker pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child neglect and one count of sexual abuse of a child under 12. Hutson noted the young victim had been kept away from school to prevent discovery of the pregnancy.
In court, she challenged family members who claimed ignorance of the pregnancy, saying the child was typically "rather petite," making it virtually impossible not to notice her condition. During the stepfather's sentencing, Hutson said: "It's very emotional to realise that a child at the age of 10 and 11 was having sex with their stepfather, that she became pregnant and no one took her to the doctor and she gave birth at home."
Six children found in deplorable conditions
She added: "When you complicate that with the severe, deplorable, uninhabitable conditions of that home, to know that's where she gave birth, where those children lived, without even the ability to get a drink of water in the middle of the night."
Court documents obtained by NBC News revealed that six children aged two, four, six, seven, nine and 11 were discovered living in the appalling conditions, surrounded by dog faeces and without clothing.
