Pat Dollard

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UK Mail:

A family law judge faced a police investigation today after his disabled daughter posted on YouTube a secretly-filmed video of her father beating her with a leather belt.

Hillary Adams took revenge on her father, Court-at-Law Judge William Adams from Aransas County, Texas, saying: ‘It had happened before, and had been escalating. I set up a camera, and I caught it.’

Police Chief Tim Jayroe, of Rockport, Texas, said today that the probe was launched after members of the public contacted them after the film swept the Internet.

Taken in 2004 when the girl was 16, Miss Adams decided last week to make it public by uploading it on YouTube and it was then posted on Reddit.

Chief Jayroe said he has not determined the identities of the people in the video nor whether any crimes were committed, according to Msnbc.

After being shown the video, this afternoon Judge Adams responded to the tape.

He said: ‘It happened years ago.. I apologized. It’s not as bad as it looks on tape.

As a result of the furore, the video was being examined by the District Attorney and previous controversial judgements Judge Adams made in cases involving children have come to light.

The young woman, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was attacked because she was caught downloading music to the computer in her bedroom.

After delivering around ten powerful strikes across her legs and backside, his wife then grabs the belt from him to take over, at which point he walks out only to return moments later with another belt so he can continue the beating.

The shocking footage appears to have been filmed on a webcam set up in the bedroom and dates from 2004 but only became public last week on October 27.

It gained speed yesterday with the video trending on Twitter and being viewed 600,000 times on YouTube. A Facebook page entitled Don’t Re-Elect Judge William Adams was set up yesterday and already has 6,000 followers.
Miss Adams has now tweeted that she was sorry she posted the video.

She wrote this afternoon: ‘I’m feeling some regret for publishing the video because to ruin my own father is heavy indeed. But I really want him to seek help.’

Miss Adams, spoke to a local TV network by phone earlier today, said she is safe, and decided now was the time because she was tired of being harassed by her father.

She said: ‘My father’s harassment was getting really bad, so I decided to finally publish the video that I had been sitting on for seven years.

The 23-year-old added that she decided to post the footage – which she’d been ‘holding onto until the right time’ – after receiving ‘a barrage of harassment’ in a phone call from her father.

From her Twitter account, she tweeted: ‘Please spread the word that my father needs professional help and not hatred. We can offer him the tools to be a better person.

‘It is my wish that people stop threatening my father and start offering professional help. That is what he really needs.’

On the seven-minute long clip, the girl begs him to stop he can be heard snarling: ‘Bend over the f***ing bed.

‘Lay down or I’ll spank you in the F***ing face.’

Calls to Judge Adams’ office in Texas went unanswered. However his senior colleague County Judge C.H. ‘Burts’ Mills told MailOnline that Judge Adams was not currently at work and had not presided over any trials this week.

Judge Mills said he had seen the video footage and had ‘no comment’ to make on the film but that it had been turned over to the District Attorney and was being ‘reviewed’.

The police department confirmed it would be making an announcement shortly.

In a court judgement last October, Judge Adams said that a child’s statements ‘amounted to no evidence’ despite the fact his words had been confirmed by third party witnesses and recorded on video several times. The young person had also been interviewed by a child psychologist who believed the child.

According to Judge William Adams, all children are ‘fantasizers’ and their testimony should just be ignored.

The girl in the video is said to have suffered from ataxic cerebral palsy from birth. The condition causes problems including difficulty with balance, shaky movements of hands or feet, and difficulty with speech.

The victim, who has a passion for technology, is believed to have illegally downloaded the video game as well as music.

The title reads: ‘Family law judge beats own daughter for using the internet, please spread’.

The video has incited fury on twitter with dozens posting their disgust.

@Johnny_Ads wrote: oh my god. what a disgusting video. im shocked. poor girl – what repulsive parents. Shame on them.
And @eschaton added: I hope this exposure gets him sent to prison for a good, long time.

In total the girl receives 20 hard lashes from her father and one from her mother.

She screams: ‘You turn over like a 16-year-old and take it like a grown woman.’

As she lies crying on her bed he shouts: ‘Do you want to put some more computer games on? Are you happy disobeying your parents?

‘You don’t deserve to be in this f***ing house. What happened to you Hillary?’

‘If I hear so much as you raising your f***ing voice to me or your mother with the wrong tone or do one little thing or you look at me f***ing wrong, I’m going to wear your f***ing a** out with this belt.’

Although it has not been confirmed that the man shown is Judge Adams, several people have posted comments below the video claiming it is definitely him.

One post from a J. Andre Bardin, who claims to be one of Hillary’s friends, reads: ‘I know in the article you say you cannot confirm the man in the video is him, but I can. It’s him.

‘That’s his voice, that’s his mannerisms, and that is his house.’

The woman, thought to be judge Adam’s wife, who is seen in the video delivering a single blow to her daughter, is said to have left the marriage after suffering emotional abuse.

She has apparently apologised for taking part in the beating and allowing it to happen.