A man who locked his son in a windowless cell measuring less than 3×3 meters is found guilty

An American has been found guilty of two crimes of negligence and illegal detention, after it was proven that he and his wife locked up their minor son in a structure measuring just under 3 meters by 3 meters without windows, during hours each day.

Tim Ferriter and his wife Tracy were arrested in 2022 and now face a 30-year sentence. The jury deliberated for approximately four and a half hours before reaching the guilty verdict.

Jurors in Palm Beach County, Florida, heard seven days of testimony, including hours of video footage from a surveillance camera that showed the inside of the small structure, in which the boy had only a bucket for a toilet.

As reported by TooFab, the cache, located inside the garage of the Ferriter home, was first discovered after the teenager escaped in January 2022.

The workers who built it had already alerted the police about the room. When authorities found the boy, he told police he was confined there for a period of 16 to 18 hours each day.

The teenager was previously locked in a similar structure at the family's former home in Arizona since he was 11 years old.. The boy allegedly had no other bedroom in either house.. Both Timothy and Tracy Ferriter, both 48, were arrested in February 2022.

Earlier this month, the Ferriters' son testified in court about the conditions inside the structure in which he was being held.. The boy, who has not been identified and was 14 years old at the time of his parents' arrests in 2022, took the stand in the case against his father.

While he described the mistreatment as “dehumanizing,” he also said he believed his parents made a “mistake” and that others should “forgive them and move on.”

The Ferriters' son testified that the 8-foot-long by 8-foot-wide windowless room was built inside the garage.. The structure had a double mattress on the cement floor, had no windows and had air conditioning and lights that the minor could not control, he said.. The boy claimed that he was sometimes kept in total darkness, with locks on the outside preventing him from going out alone.

“I had a bucket for my urine and my feces and that was it,” he added, adding that the room sometimes smelled “rotten.”. He also stated that he “received water occasionally, but not on a regular basis.”

The boy reported that he was sometimes brought into “the room by physical force” if he resisted, and stated that his father once “slapped” him in the face and “whipped” him with a rope.

During the trial, the defense said Tim Ferriter and his wife had to make “difficult decisions” about their son because of his behavioral problems.. A defense witness, Dr. Shiela Rapa, testified that the teen suffers from “reactive attachment disorder,” a condition in which a child does not form a healthy emotional bond with his or her parents or guardians.

Tim Ferriter's defense attorney, Prya Murad, argued the man's behavior was simply a case of “bad parenting” but did not rise to the level of criminality, saying the room was used to “watch” the boy.

Following Thursday's guilty verdict, Tim Ferriter was handcuffed and taken to jail. He faces up to 30 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 16.. The defendant previously rejected a two-year plea deal.