REMEMBERING LETICIA

 

Leticia Aalayah Wright was a beautiful four year old little girl remembered by her family as happy, smiling and full of life.

 

Her father, Zaheer Hussain, said after her death that losing Leticia had left a huge gap in their lives.

 

She was still so young.

 

At four, Leticia should have been playing, making friends, attending nursery and discovering more of the world around her every day.

 

Neighbors remembered seeing the little girl at her bedroom window.

 

Sometimes she looked sad.

 

But when people outside waved to her, Leticia would smile and wave back.

 

Those small moments became some of the last memories people had of her.

 

Behind that window, Leticia was living in a home that was becoming increasingly dangerous.

 

And during the final weeks of her life, the happy little girl her family remembered was subjected to extraordinary cruelty by two adults who were supposed to protect her.

 

LETICIA’S STORY

 

In August 2006, Leticia and her mother, Sharon Wright, moved to Huddersfield, where they were provided temporary housing.

 

Sharon’s boyfriend, Peter McKenzie-Seaton, also moved into the home.

 

Peter had a history of violence.

 

But when professionals later visited the house, Sharon concealed the fact that he was living there.

 

People living nearby began becoming concerned about Leticia.

 

She was frequently seen standing at her upstairs bedroom window, sometimes still dressed in pajamas while other children were going to and from school.

 

Two neighbors became concerned enough to contact social services.

 

On October 13, 2006, two social workers made an unannounced visit to the home.

 

They remained for approximately an hour and a half.

 

Leticia was wearing a dressing gown and was lying on a bed without sheets.

 

Sharon explained that Leticia had wet the bed and the bedding was being washed.

 

The home contained very few toys.

 

But Leticia appeared to be an appropriate height and weight for her age, and the workers did not observe bruising or other obvious physical injuries.

 

They also saw Leticia interacting affectionately with her mother.

 

The workers encouraged Sharon to enroll Leticia in nursery.

 

She did.

 

A health visitor later came to the home and found nothing that appeared to require immediate intervention.

 

The child protection file was closed.

 

What the workers did not know was that Peter was living inside the home.

 

Sharon had lied about his presence.

 

They also did not know everything Leticia had already said to members of her family.

 

Approximately two months before her death, Leticia told two of her paternal aunts that Peter was hitting her.

 

She said Peter came into her bedroom and smacked her.

 

She also told them she did not like her mother.

 

During the final weeks of Leticia’s life, the violence escalated dramatically.

 

Leticia was repeatedly hit, punched, kicked, bitten and burned.

 

Cigarettes were used to burn her skin.

 

Her hair was pulled from her head.

 

Blood from her injuries was later found inside the home.

 

Clumps of Leticia’s hair were discovered in a trash bin outside.

 

The abuse continued over days.

 

Her little body accumulated injury after injury.

 

Leticia eventually suffered catastrophic trauma to her head and abdomen.

 

The injuries to her abdomen were so severe that medical experts compared them with injuries seen in victims of major automobile crashes or falls from great heights.

 

The back of her head was severely injured and her scalp had become infected.

 

Leticia did not receive the urgent medical treatment her condition demanded.

 

On November 18, 2006, paramedics were finally called to the home.

 

They found Leticia naked and gravely injured on the living room floor.

 

Her body was covered with bruises, burns and bite marks.

 

She was rushed to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

 

Medical professionals fought to save her.

 

They could not.

 

In the early hours of November 19, 2006, Leticia died.

 

She was four years old.

 

A postmortem examination documented more than 100 separate injuries.

 

Some were old.

 

Others were new.

 

The evidence showed that Leticia had endured sustained and deliberate violence before her body could withstand no more.

 

Her death was a homicide.

 

SYSTEM FAILURES

 

Leticia’s death came only weeks after people outside her home had become worried enough to call child protection authorities.

 

Two neighbors saw the little girl repeatedly standing at an upstairs window and contacted Kirklees Council.

 

Social workers responded.

 

They made an unannounced visit.

 

They spent significant time inside the home and saw Leticia.

 

At that particular visit, however, Leticia appeared to be an appropriate weight and had no obvious visible injuries.

 

She interacted affectionately with her mother.

 

Sharon also concealed an extremely important fact.

 

Peter McKenzie-Seaton was living in the home.

 

Peter had a history of violence.

 

During the social workers’ visit, his presence in Leticia’s life was not known to them.

 

After Sharon enrolled Leticia in nursery and a subsequent health visit raised no immediate alarm, her social services file was closed.

 

The brutal escalation of abuse appears to have occurred primarily during the weeks that followed.

 

The handling of Leticia’s case was reviewed after her murder.

 

The independent review concluded that her death could not reasonably have been foreseen by the local authority professionals who dealt with Leticia and her mother.

 

Kirklees Council nevertheless acknowledged that certain aspects of the case could have been handled differently and reviewed its procedures.

 

Leticia’s case therefore presents a complicated lesson in child protection.

 

There were people who noticed something concerning.

 

They called.

 

Social workers responded.

 

Yet critical information about the violent adult living inside the home was hidden from them, and the danger surrounding Leticia was not recognized before her file was closed.

 

Then the violence intensified.

 

Less than six weeks after the neighbors made their call, Leticia was dead.

 

The tragedy demonstrates why information surrounding every adult living with a vulnerable child matters and why concerns from neighbors, relatives, schools, health professionals and child protection workers must be considered together whenever possible.

 

WARNING SIGNS

 

There were warning signs surrounding Leticia.

 

Neighbors were concerned enough about her isolation to contact social services.

 

She was frequently seen standing at her bedroom window.

 

She had very few toys.

 

She stopped attending nursery after initially being enrolled.

 

Most importantly, Leticia herself had spoken.

 

She told two of her paternal aunts that Peter was hitting her.

 

She said he came into her bedroom and smacked her.

 

She also said she did not like her mother.

 

A child does not need to use adult language to disclose abuse.

 

Statements about being hit, fear of a particular adult, sudden isolation, unexplained absences and changes in behavior deserve attention.

 

By the final days of Leticia’s life, the warning signs were no longer subtle.

 

Her body carried more than 100 injuries.

 

She was suffering terribly.

 

She needed emergency medical care.

 

Instead, the violence continued until her little body could no longer survive it.

 

JUSTICE FOR LETICIA

 

Sharon Wright and Peter McKenzie-Seaton each attempted to shift responsibility for Leticia’s death.

 

Sharon claimed Peter had become increasingly violent and attacked Leticia.

 

Peter admitted biting the little girl but denied causing the fatal injuries.

 

Prosecutors argued that it was impossible to identify which defendant had inflicted every individual injury.

 

They did not need to.

 

The prosecution established that Sharon and Peter had acted together in a joint course of violence against Leticia.

 

After a four week trial at Bradford Crown Court, the jury deliberated for less than five hours.

 

On August 10, 2007, Sharon Wright and Peter McKenzie-Seaton were both found guilty of murdering Leticia.

 

The judge sentenced each of them to life imprisonment.

 

Each was ordered to serve a minimum of 23 years before becoming eligible for consideration for release.

 

Sharon Wright

 

Relationship to Leticia: Mother

 

Conviction: Murder

 

Outcome: Guilty at trial

 

Sentence: Life imprisonment with a minimum term of 23 years

 

Peter McKenzie-Seaton

 

Relationship to Leticia: Mother’s boyfriend and caregiver

 

Conviction: Murder

 

Outcome: Guilty at trial

 

Sentence: Life imprisonment with a minimum term of 23 years

 

FOREVER REMEMBERED

 

Leticia Wright spent some of her final weeks standing at a bedroom window.

 

People outside saw her.

 

And sometimes they waved.

 

Leticia waved back.

 

That image is heartbreaking because we now know what was happening behind the walls of that home.

 

But there is something else worth remembering in it.

 

Leticia could still smile.

 

Her father remembered her that way too.

 

Beautiful.

 

Happy.

 

Always smiling.

 

That is the little girl who deserves to remain at the center of her story.

 

Not the more than 100 injuries documented after her death.

 

Not the photographs from a courtroom.

 

Not the names of the two adults convicted of murdering her.

 

Leticia.

 

A four year old girl who should have been playing outside instead of being watched through a bedroom window.

 

She should have gone back to nursery.

 

She should have made friends.

 

She should have celebrated birthdays and grown old enough for the memories of those four years to become only the beginning of her life.

 

Instead, the people entrusted with her care subjected her to cruelty that no child should ever experience.

 

Her father later said that Leticia had everything to live for.

 

He was right.

 

Four years was nowhere near enough.

 

The violence that ended Leticia’s life must be remembered because children still need adults to recognize warning signs and listen when a child says someone is hurting them.

 

But the violence does not deserve the final word.

 

Leticia does.

 

She was a daughter.

 

She was a little girl who smiled and waved.

 

She had people who loved her.

 

And she had everything to live for.

 

Abuse Angels remembers Leticia Aalayah Wright.

 

Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.