One of the California "Horror House" siblings was choked so hard she thought she would die — all because she watched a Justin Bieber video, investigators revealed during two days of testimony at a pre-trial hearing.
The 17-year-old girl, who, in January, made a daring escape out of a window and called 911, told Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Manuel Campos how her mom, Louise Turpin, attacked her for watching the forbidden pop video on a cell phone about two years ago.
"Do you want to die?" the girl told Campos her mom asked as she choked her.
"Yes, you do. You want to die. You want to die and go to hell," Campos said in court Wednesday, recounting the girl's testimony, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
The teen also said that her dad, David Turpin, who is charged with committing lewd acts on a child, pulled her pants down when she was 12 and placed her on his lap. He also tried to kiss her on the mouth several times, she said.
Other disturbing details heard by the court included how the teen and her 12 siblings were fed one meal a day, consisting of peanut butter and bologna sandwiches, frozen burritos or chips.
The siblings were frequently beaten, sometimes whipped with belts. They were often tied up, fist with ropes and later with chains, for months at a time, prosecutors said.
Investigators testified that medical records showed some of the kids were severely malnourished, with some adult children being 32lbs underweight
The teen said she hadn't finished first grade and investigators said she spoke like a child and had difficulty pronouncing some words.
She hadn't bathed in a year, and Campos described how her skin was caked with dirt.
"Sometimes I wake up and I can't breathe because of how dirty our house is," the teen said in the 911 call to cops, which was played for the court.
The courageous girl planned her escape for two years, she said, and when she finally left the decrepit home, her hands were shaking so much she had trouble dialing the three numbers.
Because the kids were barely ever let out of their rooms, let alone their house, she didn't know the neighborhood and had to read her own address off a piece of scrap paper, Campos said. She also couldn't spell her last name.
A photo she took of two of her emaciated sisters, one who was 11-years-old, shackled to their beds by their wrists, was also made public for the first time, and the courtroom gasped upon viewing it.
With Post wires
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