Christina Regusters, 22, was sentenced to 40 years to life for the kidnapping and sexual torture of a little girl in kindergarten, on Monday October 6, 2015
The crime which took place in Philadelphia sometime in January of 2013, was what the judge described as a “horror show.”
Regusters insisted Monday that she only took the little girl from unnamed people and dropped her off at a playground where she was found. However, Regusters chose not to testify during her trial and identify the unnamed perpetrators.
Prosecutors say that Reguster launched an elaborate plan in order to kidnap and torture her victim.
Rugusters, then 19, worked for the day care center her victim attended. Rugusters also would visit her victim’s public school and collect other children in the day care program.
Prosecutors say Regusters knew the child’s teacher was on medical leave, and managed to talk her way past a security guard and a substitute teacher, pretending to be her pregnant mother. She told them that she was taking the little girl out for Breakfast. The little girl could be seen on a security video walking out with what appeared to be a pregnant woman wearing Middle-Eastern style clothing.
Police believe Regusters got rid of the disguise and took the girl to her home, where she lived with other relatives.
Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart said Monday:
“It’s like a horror show, being taken away from a parent, stripped naked, placed under a bed and tortured,”
Police believe Reguster impersonated three different people in order to trick the blindfolded little girl into thinking that she was being assaulted by a man. Police say Reguster’s victim was left with serious internal injuries.
The little girl was found half naked on a cold, dark playground the next morning just a few miles away from Reguster’s home.
The victim, who is now 8-years old, took the stand to testify against Reguster during her trail. The little girl spoke in very small sweet voice telling the court:
“I think what she did to me was wrong, and I think she shouldn’t do it to anyone else,”
Reguster told a defense psychiatrist that she had suffered childhood abuse and neglect. She also claimed that she was raped during a 2012 home invasion. Reguster’s defense attorney W. Fred Harrison Jr. argued in court that Rgusters:
“has suffered the same kind of things that (the victim) …suffered”
Prosecutors seeking a life sentence, painted a very different picture. They said that Regusters had watched anime (Japanese Animation) which featured child torture and had researched how to destroy DNA evidence.
During sentencing Reguster said this:
“I’m not a monster, I’m a very good person,” said Regusters, who was convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault and other charges at a trial last summer. “I take full responsibility for what happened and doing absolutely nothing about it.”
The little girl’s family launched a civil rights lawsuit against the school district. They accuse the district of “reckless indifference.”
On a personal note. I know I’m supposed to not let my emotions infect stories like this, however in cases like this I just can’t help it. It’s very rare that I would ever support the death penalty, but in this case I would.
I say skip prison. Just dig a deep hole, tie this monster up and throw her in it. But don’t waste a bullet just fill it with raw sewage, then walk away and forget where she’s buried.
Here’s a video report on this story.
Featured image by screengrab from YouTube.
