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Associated Press

A California couple who inflicted years of torture on 12 of their 13 children were sentenced to life in prison on Friday, with parole possible after 25 years.
The sentencing of David and Louise Turpin was preceded by the first public statements from some of the children, who alternately spoke of love for their parents, and of what they had suffered despite it, as the couple wiped away tears.

The Turpins pleaded guilty in February to neglect and abuse.
“I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to hurt my children. I love my children so much,” Louise Turpin said.
None of the children were publicly identified.
One of the adult children walked into court already in tears just after the hearing began, holding hands with a prosecutor.
A daughter said: “Life may have been bad but it made me strong. I fought to become the person that I am. I saw my dad change my mum. They almost changed me, but I realised what was happening … I’m a fighter, I’m strong and I’m shooting through life like a rocket.”
They almost changed me, but I realised what was happening … I’m a fighter, I’m strong and I’m shooting through life like a rocket
One of the Turpins’ unidentified children
Some of the others said they still love their parents. One asked for a lighter sentence because “they believed everything they did was to protect us”.
The horrors within the home were concealed behind a veneer of suburban normality in a middle-class section of Perris, a small city about 96km (60 miles) southeast of Los Angeles.

The residence was neatly kept and neighbours rarely saw the children outside, but nothing triggered suspicion.
David Turpin, 57, had been an engineer for Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Louise Turpin, 50, was listed as a housewife in a 2011 bankruptcy filing.
But the children’s desperate plight became public after a teenage daughter escaped from the filthy home by jumping from a window, then used a cellphone to contact a police dispatcher and begin describing years of horrific abuse.
Mother accused of chaining and starving 13 children ‘perplexed’ after police arrived
When deputies arrived, they were shocked by what they discovered. A 22-year-old son was chained to a bed and two girls had just been set free from their shackles. The house was covered in filth and the stench of human waste was overwhelming.
Children said they were beaten, caged and shackled to beds if they did not obey their parents.

Judge Bernard Schwartz said the children were not allowed to be filmed or photographed.
Most of the 13 children – who ranged in age from 2 to 29 – were severely underweight and had not bathed for months.
The desperate cry for help from the 17-year-old came after a lifetime of living in such isolation; the girl did not know her address, the month of the year or what the word “medication” meant. But she knew enough to punch the digits 9-1-1 into a barely working cellphone.
13 malnourished siblings rescued from California ‘torture’ house
Deputies testified that the children said they were only allowed to shower once a year. They were mainly kept in their rooms except for meals, which had been reduced from three to one per day, a combination of lunch and dinner.
The 17-year-old complained that she could no longer stomach peanut butter sandwiches – they made her gag.

The children were not allowed to play like normal children. Other than an occasional family trip to Las Vegas or Disneyland, which one of the daughters mentioned at Friday’s hearing, they rarely left the home. They slept during the day and were active a few hours at night.
Although the couple filed paperwork with the state to homeschool their children, learning was limited. The oldest daughter only completed third grade.
In Hong Kong, most child abuse victims suffer at hands of parents
“We don’t really do school. I haven’t finished first grade,” the 17-year-old said, according to Deputy Manuel Campos.
Investigators found that the toddler had not been abused, but all of the children were hospitalised after they were discovered.


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Crime

US ‘House of Horrors’ parents David and Louise Turpin jailed for life as tortured children speak at tearful hearing

This photo shows the Turpins at their wedding, with their children present. Photo: Turpin family/Facebook

David Turpin, second from right, and wife, Louise, left, sit in a courtroom during their sentencing hearing Friday, April 19, 2019, in Riverside, Calif. The California couple who pleaded guilty to years of torture and abuse of 12 of their 13 children have been sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole after 25 years. (Will Lester/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

David and Louise Turpin with their 13 children, in a photo taken from the couple's Facebook page. Photo: Facebook

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on January 15, 2018 shows booking photos from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department of David Allen Turpin (R) and Louise Anna Turpin. - A California couple were jailed for at least 25 years on Friday, April 19, 2019 after admitting imprisoning and torturing 12 of their 13 children in a grisly "House of Horrors" case that shocked the world. David Allen Turpin, 57, and his wife Louise Anna Turpin, 50, had pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts -- including cruelty, false imprisonment, child abuse and torture of their children aged three to 30. (Photos by Jose ROMERO / Riverside County Sheriff's Department / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Riverside County Sheriff's Department" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 24, 2018, balloons, flowers and other mementoes are seen in front of the Turpin family's home in Perris, California. - David Allen Turpin, 56, and his wife Louise Anna Turpin, 50, of Perris, California, accused of torturing and starving 12 of their 13 children in a grisly "house of horrors" case that gained international attention pleaded guilty on February 22, 2019, authorities said. The Turpins pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts, including one count of torture, involving 12 of their 13 kids who range from 3 to 30 years old, the Riverside County District Attorney's office said. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP)

David and Louise Turpin, parents of 13 in California house of horror, plead guilty to torture and will be jailed for at least 25 years

From left, Louise Turpin, attorney John Moore, and David Turpin attend a preliminary hearing on June 20, 2018 at the Superior Court in Riverside, Calif. Louise and David Turpin face dozens of charges related to the alleged mistreatment of their 13 children, including child abuse and assault. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

David and Louise Turpin, surrounded by their children, renew their wedding vows in Las Vegas in this 2011 handout picture. Photo: Supplied

Yo-Yo Ma holds special concert for tortured Turpin siblings

Yo-Yo Ma performed a special concert for the California children who authorities said were starved and shackled to their beds by their parents. Photo: AP

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Couple abused 12 of their 13 children for years, beating and starving them and shackling them to beds if they did not obey
Victims alternately spoke of their love for their parents and what they had suffered in their suburban home


David and Louise Turpin abused 12 of their 13 children for years, beating and starving them and shackling them to beds if they did not obey.


United States