Christopher Leonard, Christopher Leonard described a 12-hour beating at the hands of family and pastors that has led to murder charges against his parents.
The teenager who survived an hours-long beating inside a secretive New York church said his family whipped him and his brother for refusing to answer the pastor’s questions.
In his first testimony since the attack, Christopher Leonard said in court Wednesday that he tried administering CPR on his 19-year-old brother, Lucas, who died from the assault inside Word of Life Christian Church in New Hartford on Oct. 11.
“After the whipping, I was taken to the larger sanctuary and sat in the corner,” Leonard said, according to Syracuse.com. “I don’t know how long I sat there.”
Leonard watched his brother, who was moaning, collapse to the ground.
“I knew something wasn’t right,” Leonard said, adding that he tried to save his brother’s life by doing CPR, TWC News reported.
The revelations came at a preliminary hearing for his half-sister, Sarah Ferguson, who is one of six people facing charges in the incident. Ferguson, Joseph Irwin, and David and Linda Morey, are charged with assault. The teens’ parents, Bruce and Deborah Leonard, are charged with manslaughter in Lucas’s death. All pleaded not guilty.
Ex-congregants previously told The Daily Beast the church, which inside a former high school building, was formed in the 1980s. Back then, former leader Jerry Irwin forced members to transform the third floor into living quarters for his family, they claimed.
Christopher Leonard, wearing a gray fleece jacket and glasses, was quiet on the stand as he described how pastor Tiffanie Irwin, 29, asked his family to stay after eight-hour Sunday church service.
Leonard said he and his brother, Lucas, were brought into the sanctuary to “talk about what we had done.”When they refused to answer Irwin’s questions, they were punched and whipped by their own parents, sibling and fellow congregants. Christopher said he didn’t fight back, but held up his hands to stop them.
Lucas, 19, died from blunt force trauma a day after the spiritual “counseling session” turned into a vicious assault, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead after church members brought him to a hospital the next day.
It’s unclear what prompted the savage attack. When a defense attorney for Ferguson asked why the meeting was called, the prosecution objected.
The teenager who survived an hours-long beating inside a secretive New York church said his family whipped him and his brother for refusing to answer the pastor’s questions.
In his first testimony since the attack, Christopher Leonard said in court Wednesday that he tried administering CPR on his 19-year-old brother, Lucas, who died from the assault inside Word of Life Christian Church in New Hartford on Oct. 11.
“After the whipping, I was taken to the larger sanctuary and sat in the corner,” Leonard said, according to Syracuse.com. “I don’t know how long I sat there.”
Leonard watched his brother, who was moaning, collapse to the ground.
“I knew something wasn’t right,” Leonard said, adding that he tried to save his brother’s life by doing CPR, TWC News reported.
The revelations came at a preliminary hearing for his half-sister, Sarah Ferguson, who is one of six people facing charges in the incident. Ferguson, Joseph Irwin, and David and Linda Morey, are charged with assault. The teens’ parents, Bruce and Deborah Leonard, are charged with manslaughter in Lucas’s death. All pleaded not guilty.
Ex-congregants previously told The Daily Beast the church, which inside a former high school building, was formed in the 1980s. Back then, former leader Jerry Irwin forced members to transform the third floor into living quarters for his family, they claimed.
Christopher Leonard, wearing a gray fleece jacket and glasses, was quiet on the stand as he described how pastor Tiffanie Irwin, 29, asked his family to stay after eight-hour Sunday church service.
Leonard said he and his brother, Lucas, were brought into the sanctuary to “talk about what we had done.”When they refused to answer Irwin’s questions, they were punched and whipped by their own parents, sibling and fellow congregants. Christopher said he didn’t fight back, but held up his hands to stop them.
Lucas, 19, died from blunt force trauma a day after the spiritual “counseling session” turned into a vicious assault, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead after church members brought him to a hospital the next day.
It’s unclear what prompted the savage attack. When a defense attorney for Ferguson asked why the meeting was called, the prosecution objected.
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