By Staff Writer
Teresa Johnston

child/abuse

Five year-old Shaniya Davis was found dead on a rural highway near Sanford, North Carolina on November 16, 2009. Prior to being killed, Shaniya Davis was brutally raped by Mario Andrette McNeill.

According to The Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institution, more than three million American children are victims of sexual abuse. Fiftteen out of every 100 Americans have been either a molested child or a molester. An estimated one in twenty teenage boys and adult men sexually abuse children, and an estimated one in every 3,300 teenage girls or adult woman molests children.
A child molester is any older child or adult who touches a child for his or her own sexual gratification. According to childmolestationprevention.org, 3 million children are molested before thy finish their thirteenth year. For every case reported there are about at least two or three cases of child abuse that never get reported; so the exact number of child molestation cases remains unknown.

Unfortunately, the effects of child abuse carry throughout a child’s adult life, according to childmolestationprevention.org. Studies show that child molestation can damage a person’s long term relationships, health, immune system, and mental health. Child molestation can lead to depression, suicidal thoughts, suicide, physical symptoms, death, or even possible physical complaints.

A few weeks after the mother of Shaniya Davis, Antoinette Nicole Davis, had received custody of Shaniya, she was found dead. According to reports, Shaniya’s mother had given her daughter’s precious, innocent, young life to pay off a drug debt that she owed to Mario Andrette McNeill.
According to the news release from the Fayetteville Police Department, Mario Andrette McNeill, a 29-year-old man, is the person that raped, strangled, and killed Shaniya Davis. Mario Andrette McNeill was caught on Comfort Suites Hotel’s camera, in Sanford N.C., carrying Shaniya into a hotel room the same day the missing persons report was filled out by Antoinette Davis. According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, Antoinette Davis was charged with trafficking her daughter, felony child abuse, and prostitution. Mario Andrette McNeill was charged with first-degree rape and murder. Investigators handling the death of Shaniya Davis say they cannot file any more charges until they decide where the crimes took place.

Shaniya Davis’ funeral was paid for by Shaquille O’ Neal, NBA Basketball player for Cleveland Cavaliers. According to Shaquille O’ Neal, “I was sitting at home watching it on the news and the story brought tears to my eyes.” According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, her funeral received an outpouring of people who came to pay their condolences to a family they had never met and a little girl who reached out and touched their hearts.

According to cbsnews.com, Antoinette Nicole Davis is, unfortunately, pregnant again, carrying the baby while sitting in a North Carolina prison, and awaiting a potential trial. Unfortunately, another young life may be at risk for child abuse as well.

There are many sources that a victim of child abuse can get help from, whether it be advice from a past event of child abuse or a current event of child abuse.

Some of the sources that are available in Massachusetts for child abuse victims are:
-Local Law Enforcement or Child Protective Services Agency
-The National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child