Abusive mother ordered to pay children $975,000

Older siblings are terrorized, younger ones are treasured

National Post, Francine Dube, Friday, March 7, 2003

A Toronto mother who showered love on two of her children while inflicting "barbaric assaults and torture," on her two others has been ordered to pay the children she abused $975,000 each in damages.

Andrew Cho, 33 and Cecilia Cho, 31, testified in court that their mother, Young Ja Cho, beat them frequently. They said she choked them, scalded them with hot water and repeatedly pushed them down basement stairs.

"I will not soon forget the chilling image of Cecilia delicately fingering various scars on her face and neck while recounting how her mother gave them to her," wrote Madame Justice Anne Marie Molloy of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in a judgement against Mrs. Cho released yesterday.

Bruce Haines, one of the lawyers for Andrew and Cecilia, said yesterday he believes it is the highest award in Canada for damages arising out of a breach of fiduciary duty.

"It's a heart-breaking case."

The court ordered that proceeds from the sale of Mrs. Cho's house go directly to the court to pay the damages to her children. Mrs. Cho's lawyer, Ian Mang, says he has instructions from his client to file a notice of appeal.

During the trial in October, Mrs. Cho's two youngest children described an entirely different woman, one who treated them with devotion and sacrificed much for their benefit. They said they never experienced or saw the abuse described by their older siblings.

Walter Cho, 30, is a lawyer. Stella Cho, 27, is studying law, and both are "self-assured and well-adjusted young people, a stark contrast to their older brother and sister," Judge Molloy wrote in her judgment.

Andrew and Cecilia have been employed since graduating from high school at relatively low-level jobs, interspersed with periods of unemployment.

"Both Andrew and Cecilia have permanent physical injuries and scars, which were inflicted upon them by Mrs. Cho," Judge Molloy wrote. "As a result of their mother's physical and emotional abuse, they also have permanent psychological impairments that are appropriately characterized as psychiatric disorders."

Mrs. Cho testified that she married in 1968 in Korea. Andrew was born in 1969 and Cecilia in 1971. The marriage was turbulent. Mrs. Cho left her husband in 1971 to work as a nurse in Germany. She left her children in the care of her mother-in-law, whom she hated.

She and her husband later reconciled and had two more children: Walter, born in 1972, and Stella, born in 1974, a year after the family moved to Canada. It was not until November, 1975, that they sent for their two other children in Korea. Andrew was by then six and Cecilia was four.

"From that point on, their lives can best be characterized as pure misery," Judge Molloy wrote.

Andrew and Cecilia did not speak English. They had no memory of their mother or father. They missed their grandmother.

Mr. Cho was a strict disciplinarian, according to Judge Molloy, beating them on many occasions "in a manner that went far beyond an acceptable degree of correction. It would appear that Mr. Cho also beat his wife and that the children either saw or heard much of that abuse."

"However, according to Andrew and Cecilia, all of these problems paled in comparison to the sadistic cruelty of their mother, the viciousness of which becomes even more incomprehensible when contrasted to the love and affection she showered on Walter and Stella."

Andrew testified that his mother beat him often with whatever object was at hand, such as a cutting board or kitchen utensil. She regularly slammed him into a wall or table and banged his head into the wall. She dragged him by his hair or choked him until he passed out. She shoved food down his throat and pushed a J-cloth down his throat until he gagged. She made him run up the basement stairs, to push him down the stairs and make him run back up again.

In the bathroom, she would hold his head under water repeatedly until he passed out. She poured scalding water on him. The assaults stopped when Andrew was 14 and realized he could protect himself.

Cecilia testified that beatings were a nearly daily occurrence from as early as she could remember. One of her earliest memories was of her mother hitting her with a rolling pin and breaking her leg. Once she broke her nose.

A family physician, a clinical psychiatrist and a clinical neuropsychologist diagnosed both Andrew and Cecilia as suffering from post-traumatic stress and other related disabilities. All three doctors considered them to be permanent conditions caused by severe abuse inflicted upon the them by their mother.

The psychiatrist, Dr. Pieter Butler, diagnosed both with symptoms commonly seen in victims of torture or abuse. He found Andrew incapable of experiencing joy or love, unable to form close personal relationships with others and has difficulty functioning in an academic or work environment.

Cecilia has a similarly limited emotional range and is frequently distressed. Dr. Butler felt she was unlikely to ever form a stable romantic relationship or become a mother. Her face is scarred.

Mrs. Cho admitted assaulting Andrew and Cecilia but denied the extent and frequency of the abuse and denied having done some of the more horrific acts they described. Mrs. Cho claimed it was her husband, not her, who was responsible for most of the violence. She said she treated all four children equally.

Judge Molloy sided with Andrew and Cecilia, finding their testimony more credible. Social workers who interviewed them as children when they left home reported they hated and feared their mother. Their teachers reported injuries.

Copyright 2003 National Post