Adjo Victoria Climbie
November 2, 1991 - February
25, 2000
Born Victoria Adjo Climbie on
November 2, 1991 on the ivory coast, this young, beautiful child would
live a short life. Her parents, Francis Climbié and
Berthe Amoissi sent her to live with an Aunt, who ORIGINALLY
lived
in Paris, in order to give Adjo a better education. In November of 1998,
they made the mistake of sending her off to a better life.
At first Victoria and her
Aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, lived alone in Paris, however, between April
and June of 1999 they moved to England. Marie was running from the
authorities and had changed Adjob's name to Anna.
While getting on a bus one
day they met the bus driver, Karl Manning. They soon moved in with
Karl and within days he was already abusing and torturing Victoria. On
July 14, 1999, Victoria made her first visit to the hospital as a result
of his abuse. The doctors were immediately concerned and placed her under
a 72 hour protective order. At that time, the police and social services
were alerted.
This would not be the last
time that social services failed Victoria. Sadly, the System put into place
to protect children missed at least 12 chances to save this little girls
life. How sad that they did not do their job!
At the time of her death,
Victoria had 128 injuries on her body many of them were found to be cigarette
burns. Adjo was forced to sleep in a trash can liner in the tub in
Karl Manning's apartment. Her hands and her feet were bound and she
was kept naked except for the trash can liner.
Karl had used many things
to hit Victoria, including a bicycle chain, hammer and a belt buckle.
Adjo lived on scraps thrown to her much like they would be thrown to the
dog.
Karl said no matter what he
did to her, she never cried and he was even gutsy enough to refer to HER
as Satan after all HE did to her.
Between July 14, 1999 and
February 24, 2000, Victoria was tortured and beaten until on February 24,
2000 she was rushed to a hospital suffering from malnutrition and hypothermia.
On February 25, 2000 this beautiful little girl died.
A gray slab of mortar and
tarmac with her name and date of birth and death etched into it, is the
final resting place for Victoria. She was buried in a cemetery in
the ivory Coast.
In January of 2001, Marie
Thérèse Kouao and Karl Manning were both sentenced to life
in prison for the suffering they had inflicted upon this helpless little
child.
The trial
Carl Manning and Marie Therese
Kouao are charged with the murder of Victoria Climbie. During police interviews
both claim that Victoria was possessed.
November 2000:
The trial opens with the
prosecution making it clear that the blame lay not only with Kouao and
Manning in the dock but child protection authorities who had been "blindingly
incompetent".
Manning denies murder but
pleads guilty to child cruelty and manslaughter. Kouao denies all charges.
12 January 2001:
Almost a year after Victoria
Climbie's death, Manning and Kouao are found guilty of her murder.
Sentencing both of them to
life imprisonment, Judge Richard Hawkins says:
"What Anna endured was
truly unimaginable. She died at
both your hands, a
lonely drawn out death"
The Inquiry
April 2001:
The government announces
a public inquiry into the death to be headed by Lord Laming.
The inquiry is the first in
Britain to use special wide-ranging powers to look at everything from the
role of social services to police child protection arrangements.
Ministers make clear that
they expect the inquiry to scrutinise the child protection system and not
just the failings in the Climbie case.
May 2001:
Lord Laming opens the inquiry
and in an unprecedented move calls both Marie Therese Kouao and Carl Manning
to give evidence. He says the killers should appear at the inquiry to help
it establish where the authorities failed to stop them.
The inquiry is split into
two parts. You can read the key stories on the Victoria Climbie special
report.
The first part or phase takes
the testimony of more than 230 witnesses including neighbours, child protection
officers and high-ranking social services officials.
During this phase, the inquiry
heard allegations of racism, incompetence and agencies neglecting their
duty of care to Victoria. The inquiry hears of 12 occasions when agencies
could have intervened and possibly saved the girl's life.
The second part during 2002
uses a series of special one-day seminars to bring invited experts together
to debate the nature of the child protection system and help Lord Laming
draw up his conclusions.
July 2002
Lord Laming reopens the first
phase of the inquiry after it emerges that a critical document by social
services inspectors had not been revealed to his team.
August 2002
Carole Baptiste, one of the
key social workers in the case, is found guilty of failing to attend the
public inquiry and fined $500.
November 2002
Two further social workers
at the heart of the Victoria Climbie child abuse scandal are sacked for
gross misconduct. Lisa Arthurworrey and her manager Angella Mairs are dismissed
by Haringey Council in north London following disciplinary proceedings.
Read
About The Victoria Climbie Charitable Fund
Read
Updates About Victoria's Story
Timeline
Of Events In Victoria's Short Life
Return
To Victoria story
For information about preventing child abuse in the
England click below. If they can't help you, ask for someone who can. NEVER
give
up looking for help for an abused child!
Call this number to report
child abuse ANY WHERE in the United States!
1-800-4-A-Child
1-800-422-4453
  
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