Uncle wants to help little girl - Son says family charged in abuse was 'trained,' not raised

Lance Martin/Herald Senior Staff Writer

ROANOKE RAPIDS - At 18, Dwayne Gibbs all but walked away from his family.

There were signs that something was wrong all along - a mother he says trained rather than raised, an older brother who didn't want to get out and a younger brother who "pretty much followed (his mother's orders) like a puppy dog," he said in an interview Monday, a day after news of the abuse his 4-year-old niece allegedly suffered at the hands of his two brothers, mother and brother's girlfriend broke.

Dwayne, now 28 and a father of three, wants to get custody of the child. The little girl is at Pitt Memorial Hospital for examination, treatment and observation at the hospital's TediBear Child Advocacy Center. The child's mother is also considering seeking custody.

Dwayne said he told the Northampton County Department of Social Services he believed something was wrong in May. He said he received a letter saying there was no signs of abuse.

Gaston police believe his fears were true. On Friday, they discovered the child unconscious from choking as she was force-fed. Investigators believe it was a common form of punishment in the household.

Hospital staff alerted law enforcement when they saw visible signs the child, who was dehydrated when she was brought in, had been beaten and had a bloody nose.

Dwayne learned what police said happened to the child through a news account in the Daily Herald. Officers described the adults' alleged punishment of the child by leaving her in a hot attic, rubbing the child in her own vomit and then sticking her head in clean toilet water, force-feeding her and cutting her hair because she played with it.

'My mother is weird'

He believes the problems all begin with his mother, Mary Darling Gibbs, 59, who along with the other three remains in the Northampton County Jail on $50,000 bond.

"It's kind of hard to explain," he said. "My mother didn't raise us, she trained us. She has different opinions. Any little deviation and we were punished."

For Dwayne, it was enough to make him want to leave. He spent a year at N.C. Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount and then went to Halifax Community College where he studied automotive mechanics. He now lives in Roanoke Rapids and works in Richmond, Va., as a diesel mechanic.

He said he has seen his mother serve the child adult portions of food and not give her anything to eat. "My mother is weird," he said. "Simple obedience will not work with my mother."

He recalls his mother had one of her boyfriends beat him with a stick as a child.

The night he decided to call Social Services was when he went over to his mother's house to find out why family members did not go to one of his son's birthday parties. "She (the girl) was sitting on her potty in the living room with her knees on a box. She (his mother) was fussing at her because she didn't eat the hot dogs. Me and my older brother got to yelling and he said if I didn't leave he was going to call the police."

Dwayne ended up calling the police and was told by the officer answering he needed to call Social Services.

'It was indescribable'

He didn't see his family again until July when they went to dinner.

He found out there were other things going on, such as his mother shining a flashlight on the girl while she was asleep thinking she was playing.

Now he hopes his family members will be punished. "I hope they stay in jail and I hope they get convicted."

The girl is charming around Dwayne, he said. "She's my little angel."

But around his mother she is quiet. "I disagree with child abuse of any kind. I use time-outs a lot. I would love to have her. I'm going to have to go through a lot of red tape."

Dwayne believes life will be better for the girl at his residence in Roanoke Rapids instead of her West Hill Street house in Gaston which he says is nasty, filled with bugs, feces on the floor and clutter everywhere.

Gaston police officers going to search the house with a representative from the District Attorney's office Monday asked for surgical masks to cut the smell.

Northampton County Animal Cruelty Investigator Karen Cole said she took away three dogs from the Gibbs house and is currently feeding cats at the residence.

The dogs belong to Dwayne's youngest brother, Doug, who signed a form giving the animals to Cole. Doug is also charged in the case.

"Basically they were chained up and were not in a good atmosphere," she said.

The inside of the house was even worse, Cole said. "It was indescribable. There were cockroaches everywhere. I don't see how five people lived there, in inhumane conditions at all."

Cole said studies have shown that many times child abuse and animal abuse are linked.

"The cats are basically inbred," Cole said. "My understanding was Phyllis Evans (the girlfriend of Daniel Gibbs, who were both charged) was calling and getting kittens from the newspaper."

Cole had been working with Gaston Police Chief Randy Griffin for a year and a half on an ongoing problem a neighbor was having with the animals.

"They had gotten down on the cats. When I went there Saturday and saw all those cats, it surprised me because there had not been that many before."

The dogs, two Siberian huskies and a shitzu mix, will most likely be euthanized, Cole said.

Trying to find out why

Gaston Police Sgt. William Lucas said officers are trying to get an explanation as to why it happened. "According to them (other family members charged) the grandmother (Mary Gibbs) is the one. She wants to discipline in an old-fashioned way."

During their first appearance Monday, they were appointed attorneys and their bonds remained at $50,000 each.

Their next court appearance is set for Aug. 29.

Officers say more charges are pending and the child is going to be examined for any signs of sexual abuse. Lucas was expected to go to the TediBear Center today along with a female officer to try to talk with the child.

As Dwayne awaits to find out how the girl is doing and what it will take to get custody of her, the girl's mother, Susan Harrison is also trying to find an attorney to get custody of her.

Harrison lost custody of the child about three years ago but was allowed visitation every other week. She has not seen the child since December and thought something was wrong by the way the girl did not want to leave her.

"She was not very receptive about going back. You had to fight with the child to get her to go back there," she told the Daily Herald Monday afternoon.