A woman accused of abusing her children claimed she never mistreated them and in fact they refused to be fed by her. The mother said her son was living with his uncle and he was well and healthy there. "He was attending school regularly and living a healthy life with his aunt and uncle from his father's side of the family. Then he suddenly stopped attending school and he moved in to live with me. He would not let me take care of him. He would not eat the food I gave him. He only wanted to be taken care of by his aunt," the mother said. She added that she never abused her children or starved them, but that she offered them food and her son simply refused to eat. "The Ministry of Labor and Social Development said that I suffer from a mental illness. That is not true. I have no mental or psychological illnesses. I only suffer from epilepsy. I never abused the two girls. They willfully chose to stay in the room and not get out," she said, adding that she had taken care of them and their special needs. "They have all of their official papers with them. Whatever I received from the Ministry of Labor and Social Development for them in disability benefits, I spent on them. I never exploited them or their benefits." She said she had been viciously attacked by the general public and was shocked by the way the story was carried by the media. However, the father of the children said his wife is stubborn and temperamental. "My wife's behavior changed over the past 10 years. I had to separate my children from her. I was the one that put them in the attic. I had asked for help from family members before, but my wife never listened to anyone. I had to send my children to other members of the family because my wife was not fit to raise them," the father said. He also said one of his daughters left the house when she was eight years old and stayed at her aunt's for two months. "My daughter then came back home but she was abused the most because she kept defending her brother and sister in the face of her mother," he said.
