West Virginia, USA: A horrible child abuse video that was viral on Facebook has helped the authorities arrest and sentenced a 43-year-old mother to 155 years in prison.
The mother was involved in a video viral on social media that showed her performing sexual acts on a young girl.
Elizabeth Haway, who is from Princeton, West Virginia, USA, was sentenced to a total of 155 years in jail this week.
The judge of the case called it one of the vilest and horrific cases that he had ever seen.
The case was unveiled after Detective Sergeant Steve Sommers from the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office received a tip-off about a horrific child abuse video that was being distributed through the Messenger service of Facebook.
Upon investigating, Sgt. Sommers found out that the video involved in the case was showing an adult woman performing sexual acts on a young girl.
Sommers obtained a search warrant on Facebook, which forced the tech group to disclose the records of Haway.
The evidence allowed the Sg.t to trace the real owner of the video.
Further investigations revealed that this was not the only video that she had uploaded.
The face of Haway was not visible in the videos that she made, however, Sgt. Sommers saw enough detail to determine that the crimes were committed by her, inside their own bathroom.
In a report, Sgt. Sommers said:
I estimated the age of the child to be between 5 and 6 years of age. I also observed that the bathtub had distinct cracking of the moulding at the wall and bathtub and that the adult female had a tattoo on her finger of a smiley face (two dots and a line).
George Sitler, the prosecuting attorney, requested the court to place a maximum penalty on Haway, the 43-year-old mother.
William Sadler, the Mercer County Circuit Court Judge, said that he sentenced the 43-year-old based on the lifelong damages that had been inflicted on this child.
Judge Sadler said:
This child has lost innocence that can never be restored or replaced. I’ve been involved in the criminal justice system for over 30 years. From that standpoint, this is one of the most vile and horrific cases I have ever experienced in the criminal justice system.
The mother was sentenced to a term of 25 to 100 years on 2 counts of first-degree sexual assault.
She also received a further 5 to 25 years on 2 counts of first-degree sexual assault.
She was also handed 10 to 20 years in prison for 2 counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, or custodian.
Haway will also be serving 5 to 15 years on each of the 2 incest charges.
Sitler estimated that this gave Haway a sentence of 45 to 155 years in prison.
The 43-year-old mother will be out of prison when she gets 88, which is the time when she will be eligible for parole.