Carol J Rothgeb
“No One Can Hurt Him Anymore” …
“No One Can Hurt Him Anymore” …
because he’s dead.
At the tender age of 10.
At the hands of someone who should have cared for him.
Under the eyes of officials and authorities charged with protecting him.
In spite of innumerable warnings and reports of cruelty, and clear evidence of abuse.
His name was Andrew J Schwarz aka A.J. He lived in Florida from April 1983 to May 1993.
This was a lad let down on all sides. His short life was one filled with harsh treatment, rejection, degradation, deprivation, at the hands of both his birth mother, Ilene, (and her paramours), and his stepmother, Jessica.
His whole life was a living hell.
A.J.’s story makes harrowing reading and generates a powerful feeling of bewilderment and incomprehension that so many red flags could be ignored or buried. And it’s right that those failures should be exposed in this full account of his life and death. But it’s a hauntingly difficult tale to stay with, especially during the trial where witnesses for the defence blatantly lie, and where protection officials demonstrate horrifying negligence and incompetence. No wonder grown men, professionals with yards of experience, wept. And no wonder the chief prosecutor, Scott Cupp, who co-wrote the book with author Carol J Rothgeb, said Jessica Schwarz was the personification of evil.
I added this book to my reading list when I was researching parents who deliberately harm their children for my own creative writing pre-pandemic (Killing Me Gently), but have only just ordered a copy and read it. No one would have believed me if I had told this tale.
And indeed publishers were reluctant to take on “No One Can Hurt Him Anymore”. Child abuse – especially on this scale –
is just too painful a subject. Yes, it is. It’s the kind of pain that creeps into your dreams. It’s the kind of pain that makes you weak.
A.J.’s story illustrates the danger of putting undue emphasis on blood/family relationship and the rights of parents/families. Cupp pleads eloquently for more emphasis on the best interests of the child. His hope in writing this book is that A.J.’s tragic and senseless death will help to renew the debate on how to manage cases of child abuse. And in drawing attention to it here I both echo that hope and cry out for some glimmer of justice for that vulnerable little soul.