Girl, 11, 'robbed of childhood' as she gives birth at home in 'unsanitary' conditions

A mother and her husband have been arrested after authorities say their 11-year-old daughter gave birth at home without ever seeing a doctor during her pregnancy.

Cherie Walker, 33, and Dustin Walker, 34, of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, were taken into custody on felony child neglect charges earlier this month. Investigators allege the girl, who was 36 weeks pregnant, had not received medical care in more than a year before delivering a baby on August 16.

Assistant District Attorney Janet Hutson told reporters the case was “extremely disturbing,” adding: “This child is traumatised. She gave birth at home without medical assistance... this will be her life for the rest of her life.”

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Court documents say the Walkers did not seek hospital care until after the baby was born. Both are being held on £73,000 ($100,000) bonds and are due in court September 3.

Prosecutors were made aware of the incident after she was taken to hospital following the birth of the child.

"I was horror-stricken to find out it's an 11-year-old girl who's given birth, and that she had no medical care and she had no one to be with her," Assistant District Attorney Janet Hutson told KJRH.

Hutson says she is now planning on filing additional charges against Cherie and Dustin. Prosecutors are awaiting the paternity test to find out who fathered the child, which could take two weeks.

In the meantime, the 11-year-old girl and her five siblings have been removed from the home, where next door neighbour Cheryl Adkins claimed they were exposed to unstable and unsanitary conditions.

"They have no running water for the last two or three years," she claimed to KJRH, noting that she made several calls to police and authorities over the years to check on the children - and is now afraid that help arrived too late.

Adkins also said she is convinced that Cherie and Dustin knew about the young girl's pregnancy, despite their insistence that they were completely unaware.

However, the young girl's grandmother, only identified as Michelle said the community does not know the whole story.

"I just want people to know, we did not know this was happening. None of us," she said, adding that she is upset that her daughter and son-in-law are being portrayed as "monsters."

"They are not," the grandmother said. "They love those children. They love them."

She also claimed that the house is in such poor condition because of the family's pets.

"We have animals, and so sometimes there's trash on the floor because the dogs get into the trash," Michelle explained. "It gets cleaned up."

As to who may have impregnated her granddaughter, Michelle claims the young girl told her the baby's father is a 12 year old whom Michelle used to babysit.

"She keeps telling everybody it was him," she said. "They got curious. That's all I know."

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