Woman's trial begins over abuse charges involving multiple children
Sherina Maria Handsor faces 18 charges including administering noxious substances and unlawful confinement of children across B.C. and Alberta.
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The trial of Sherina Maria Handsor began Monday with testimony detailing escalating abuse of multiple children in her care across jurisdictions in British Columbia and Alberta.
Handsor faces 18 charges including administering noxious substances, failure to provide necessaries of life, unlawful confinement, bodily harm, and bodily assault.
A former stepdaughter testified about increasingly degrading conditions and escalating violence as the family moved from Quesnel, B.C., to Fox Creek, B.C., and then Whitecourt. She described unpredictable household rules involving what and when she could eat.
"Rules I kind of found out after I broke them. I felt like I was lost," the witness testified. "Grabbing a snack or an apple was considered stealing, and was controlled by abuse. At least once a day I was being hit or my hair was being pulled or I was being screamed at for something."
The witness described being forced to eat food made specifically to sicken her — an oily pasta salad with pickles — and being threatened with forced consumption of vomit. She testified about standing naked on upside-down plastic cups in corners for hours, sometimes with books on her head, while other children were allowed to touch her without permission to stop them.
The basement bathroom was a frequent location for abuse, she said, with a foam mattress on the floor, no pillow or blanket, and the door locked from outside. She also testified to being hit with a baseball bat, which Handsor called "being tapped in the head."
The trial is ongoing.