High court to hear religious man’s child abuse case

Missouri’s Supreme Court will hear arguments this week regarding whether a Springfield man who practiced a certain type of Christianity is guilty of abusing his children.

Peter D. Hansen, 50, was convicted by a jury in 2011 of abusing one of his children by locking him in a bathroom “for days at a time” and restricting what the child could eat. Judge Dan Conklin suspended a three-year prison sentence and placed Hansen on five years probation with 100 days in the Greene County Jail.

Hansen, who is a Seventh Day Adventist, argues that his religion encourages vegetarianism and that the punishment of his children does not constitute child abuse.

Court records show Hansen was married and had two children from a previous marriage. The family was evicted from their home in April 2009 and lived in a car for a couple of weeks before their local church allowed them to live in the building.

“The family had little money, but continued to live by the principles of their church in that environment, eating mostly vegetables, grains, legumes and some fruit, two meals a day, drinking water and exercising,” Hansen’s appeal says.

Prosecutors say the boy was limited to about two cups of food per day.

The children were sometimes punished by being placed in one of the church’s bathrooms, which was not large enough for the children to stretch out.

Prosecutors say there is sufficient evidence to prove Hansen “inflicted cruel and inhuman punishment by locking the minors in a small, dark and cold bathroom for days at a time.” Prosecutors also say Hansen’s withholding of food was a cruel and inhuman punishment.

Hansen says the state’s evidence failed to prove either of those convictions.

Springfield police and Children’s Division investigators arrived at the church the day before Thanksgiving in 2009 on a call of possible child abuse.

Hansen’s wife, Melissa, answered the door and said Hansen’s daughter was in a partitioned area and Peter and his son were “out of town working on a construction project.”

Investigators found the daughter sitting at a desk working. She said she was often punished by being isolated from the rest of the family or being restricted from eating “luxury foods like fruit, or butter.” The girl said she was often hungry, according to court records.

She also told investigators that her brother was in the building next door. When investigators went to that building, they found that it was held to about 54 to 58 degrees.

Investigators say they found the boy in a bathroom and it appeared that he had been sleeping. There was a sleeping bag, foam pallet and pillow on the floor, along with some books, utensils and dishes.

Documents say the bathroom was about “six by seven, or five by six” feet in size.

Peter Hansen arrived while investigators were talking to the boy. Hansen said the bathroom was “like a hole for a 14-year-old and I’m OK with that.”

Hansen said the children were bad and had bad attitudes and were being punished.

At that time, the children were taken into protective custody and the parents were arrested, according to court records.

The children were taken to the hospital where a doctor determined the children were “receiving inadequate calories for appropriate weight gain and growth.”

A nurse noted the boy’s ribs and shoulder blades were “visibly prominent,” according to court records.

During the trial, the jury watched videotape of the girl’s interview at the Child Advocacy Center.

She said the children were placed in “lockdown,” either in the bathroom or in a partitioned area in a classroom.

“I had already been in the bathroom,” the girl said. “I was going on my third week. After I had been put inside the walls, I was told no communication, and my brother was put in what we called ‘the hole.’ After that, they decided to put my brother outside. After being put in my area for a week, they decided to let me out. It was only for the weekend, though. Monday afternoon, I was put back in because I was struggling with some math and English.”

“The walls” the girl references appears to mean the partitions that were put up in the classroom to seclude her.

The girl said she was let out for about 30 minutes each day to ride her bike or run. Otherwise, she was kept in the bathroom to do homework.

She said she would knock on the door when her homework was finished.

“After all my school work was done, I would have to turn the light off and sit there on the hard floor and think about what I had done, “ she said. “It got pretty cold in there.”

The boy reported similar punishments, according to court records.

When police interviewed Peter Hansen, he admitted he put the children in isolation for punishment, but he denied withholding food.

Some church members said they often saw the children outside and that they appeared healthy.

A jury eventually found Hansen guilty of two counts of child abuse.

Hansen was sentenced on May 31, 2012, and since then has appealed the ruling.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday.