Children testify in Dillon abuse case

DILLON — Three children — ages 8, 10 and 12 — testified Thursday they were severely beaten by Jeffrey Caulder, their mother’s live-in boyfriend, during much of their childhood.

Caulder, who was arrested in November, is on trial for three counts of unlawful neglect of a child. Prosecutors said he abused the children for more than five years.

Caulder was out on bond until Thursday evening when Assistant 4th Circuit Solicitor Shipp Daniel asked that he be taken into custody after hearing the serious allegations made during the children’s testimony.

Fourth Circuit Court Judge Michael Baxley, who is presiding over the case, granted Daniel’s request after testimony ended.

During the trial, a 10-year-old victim said Caulder duct-taped her to one of her brothers because they were fighting among themselves.

The girl said they were bound for four hours and were even made to use the bathroom together.

She said Caulder would put duct tape on her and her brothers’ lips, smooth it down and then rip it off for apparently no reason.

“We would get bloody lips,” she said.

The girl said life with Caulder and her mother, Christina Miller, who faced the same charges, was “like a black hole.”

“I’d never thought we were going to be saved,” the girl said.

Her 8-year-old brother testified that Caulder forced hot sauce down both of their throats because he caught them playing with condiment bottles in the family kitchen.

The 8-year-old testified that he and two of his siblings were made to stand with their arms extending while balancing pillows for three hours. If they dropped one of them, they’d be beaten and forced to hold more pillows, the child said.

The 10-year-old said Caulder and their mother entertained themselves by making the children hold books in their outstretched arms for long periods.

He said the two adults viewed it as “a competition” and the losing child would have books thrown at him by his sibling.

The 12-year-old victim said that Caulder “hogtied” him to a bunk bed, severely beat him and left him there still tied with the restraints.

The boy said his mother saw him tied to the bed and pleaded with her to just leave him there because he was afraid Caulder would beat him again.

When asked, the boy told Daniel the worst incident he remembered was when Caulder gave him a knife and demanded the boy stab him with it.

“He said if I was mad enough I would do it,” the 12-year-old said. “I couldn’t do it.”

“There were times I thought of suicide or running away,” the boy later told the court. “ ... I don’t think Jeffrey had a heart, I think he doesn’t care about no one but himself. I think he hates the whole world.”

The 12-year-old said Caulder and his mother derived pleasure from beating the children because they would laugh during the abuse.

Miller pleaded guilty to the charges against her Monday and testified against Caulder on Thursday. She has not yet been sentenced.

Miller said Caulder had beaten one of her sons so badly that he couldn’t sit down in her car for the ride to school.

She said, through tears, she examined the boy and found that his underwear was stuck to his body because his wounds had opened.

Daniel asked Miller why she allowed Caulder to abuse her children.

“He made me believe nobody would believe me,” she said.

Prior to Miller’s testimony, one of her children implicated her in the abuse. The child testified she “kicked him in the side once for asking for hot dogs.”

Miller also admitted to dragging her daughter down a hallway by her hair.

Miller has since terminated her parental rights to all three of the children in the case and a fourth child she and Caulder have together.

She also has received counseling through the Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse.

Her children have been counseled through the coalition’s Elizabeth Pettigrew Durant Children’s Center.

Miller also was taken into custody Thursday after she testified.

Caulder’s trial had been slated to start Tuesday, but was postponed because Baxley had a scheduling conflict, said Rosalind Sellers, Caulder’s attorney.

The trial will continue Friday morning at the Dillon County Courthouse.