A West Virginia mother learned her fate for committing incest with a 5-year-old girl. She not only abused the child but also shared “vile” video footage. Is her punishment adequate? You decide.
Elizabeth Haway was thrown behind bars for “vile and horrific” acts of incest after local authorities got wind of the torment the 43-year-old Princeton, West Virginia mom inflicted on an innocent child, thanks to a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The cyber tip from a concerned citizen prompted an investigation, but nothing could have prepared detectives for what they would discover.
Disturbingly, Haway committed incestuous sexual acts and abuse on a 5-year-old girl in a bathtub, recorded it, and shared the shocking footage with a “friend,” Knewz reported. According to the tip, Haway had distributed the child pornography through Facebook Messenger, as Detective-Sgt Steve Sommers with Mercer County Sheriff’s Office would discover during his investigation.
“As I searched her Facebook records further, I found two video files that were approximately 3 minutes and 21 seconds (each) in length that had been sent to another Facebook user,” Detective Sommers recalled. According to the criminal complaint, Sommers reviewed the video file, which included audio, and he saw that it showed an adult female engaging in sexual acts with a prepubescent female child.
“I estimated the age of the child to be between 5 and 6 years of age,” Sommers said in the report, according to The Bluefield Daily Telegraph. “I also observed that the bathtub had distinct cracking of the molding at the wall and bathtub and that the adult female had a tattoo on her finger of a smiley face (two dots and a line).”
Sommers also found graphic messages between Haway and another Facebook user, prompting him to obtain and serve a search warrant on Facebook, compelling them to disclose records for Haway. It was discovered that, over the course of five months, the West Virginia mom conspired to distribute child pornography of her incest to alleged pedophile Randall Peggs of Wheeling, West Virginia.
In the course of their online exchanges, the West Virginia mom and the alleged pedophile discussed Haway’s urge to commit incest with the little girl. Ultimately, it was discovered that Haway pushed Peggs to use Facebook to distribute child pornography. Peggs pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge and could be put away for as long as three decades. Haway, however, faced a much stiffer punishment.
Elizabeth Haway pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, incest, and two counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian, or person of trust. Prosecuting attorney George Sitler asked the court to impose the maximum penalty as she was brought before Mercer County Circuit Court Judge William Sadler for sentencing.
“Lifelong damage has been inflicted on this child,” Sadler said as he sentenced Haway. “This child has lost innocence that can never be restored or replaced,” he added. “I’ve been involved in the criminal justice system for over 30 years. From that standpoint, this is one of the most vile and horrific cases I have ever experienced in the criminal justice system.”
Haway was sentenced to 45 to 155 years in prison. She will be about 88 years old before she’s eligible for parole. If she is ever released from prison, she will be required to register with the West Virginia State Police as a sex offender and serve 20 years of supervision. She was also ordered to pay $42,900 in restitution to the little girl, but that’s not all.
Haway was sentenced to a term of 25 to 100 years on both counts of first-degree sexual assault, which will run currently. She received another five to 25 years on both counts of first-degree sexual abuse, which will run concurrently. Sadler also sentenced her to serve 10 to 20 years in prison for two counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. Those sentences will run concurrently. She will also serve five to 15 years on each of the two incest charges, which will run concurrently. [Source: The Bluefield Daily Telegraph]
After being convicted of sexually abusing the 5-year-old girl, Elizabeth Haway was also later convicted on a conspiracy to distribute child pornography charge and had 20 years added to her prison sentence, according to the Mirror. The additional 20-year punishment was the result of Haway sending the videos of herself incestuously abusing the child to her Facebook friend.
“Twenty years in prison for an abhorrent crime that inflicted lifelong trauma on a young child,” Prosecutor Mike Stuart said, referring to the extended sentence. “We will do everything within our power to keep offenders like Haway away from West Virginia’s children,” he added. “After Haway completes the state prison sentence she is currently serving, she then will spend the following two decades in federal prison.”
Abhorrent is an understatement. The crime alone is revolting enough, but the fact that Elizabeth Haway is a mother makes it even worse. A mother’s instinct should always be to protect a child — not be a monster who abuses the vulnerable and innocent, then serves them up to pedophiles for their viewing pleasure. It doesn’t get any more depraved than that.
