Delaware Woman Sentenced to 106 Years for Torture of Sons: ’Extensive and Persistent Evil’

“These children went through hell. Now they never have to worry about their abusers again,” said Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings

A Delaware woman was sentenced to 106 years in prison for torturing her two stepsons alongside their father.

The Delaware Attorney General’s office announced in a news release on Thursday that Mary Vinson, 46, was sentenced by a Superior Court judge to 106 years in prison after pleading guilty to several felony charges of child abuse, attempted child abuse, kidnapping, attempted assault and endangering the welfare of a child, among other charges.

Her husband, Charles Vinson, 37, also received 49 years in prison for charges including child abuse, kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child, act of intimidation and conspiracy.

According to the attorney general’s office, the couple’s children — one was 10 and the other was between 11 and 13 during the abuse — were “violently and repetitively” physically assaulted by the couple. The acts of abuse were captured on video by “cameras the parents placed in the children’s room.”

Some of the forms of abuse the children had to endure included standing for long periods of time and being force fed or not fed at all. As a result, the children were “hospitalized several times.”

“These children went through hell,” Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a statement. “Now they never have to worry about their abusers again.”

“Even when these cases are strong, they are not easy,” Jennings continued. “The facts are chilling. Knowing what these children experienced weighs on all of us. But knowing that they are safe now is why we do this work. I’m grateful to the prosecutors and law enforcement who rescued them from this torture.”

According to the Associated Press, prosecutors alleged in court that the two children had been abused over the course of 20 months beginning in early 2020. The Division of Family Services eventually took custody of children in October 2021 after they were hospitalized several times for severe malnutrition.

During the sentencing hearing, Mary argued in court that she “didn’t want to hurt” the children. Per the AP, “It didn’t start out that way,” she said, adding, “I loved those boys like they were my own.”

Charles’ attorneys, meanwhile, argued that he had been manipulated by his wife into harming his kids and “admits that he failed his sons,” the outlet reported.

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Mary faced a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum of 444 years, while her husband faced between 10 to 158 years in prison, according to the AP. The Vinson’s defense attorneys requested for their clients to receive the minimum sentence, which was denied by Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clarke.

During the sentencing, Clarke called the crime “the most extensive and persistent evil” act he had ever seen, the AP reported. “It will be impossible for them to forget the evil done to them,” the judge said, per the outlet. “They will carry this with them for the rest of their lives.”

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