Four Year-Old Boy tortured for four days, neighbors hear his cries and do nothing

By Heather MacAulay

On April 8, 2010, four year-old Dominick Calhoun was sitting on the living room couch eating cereal when he had a bathroom accident, he peed on the couch. This single act enraged a 24 year-old man (monster would be a better word), Brandon Hayes, who began beating little Dominick repeatedly for four consecutive days. He beat Dominick so badly that he was bruised on every part of his body. Hayes began punching and kicking him in the head, genitals, and everywhere. He burned him with cigarettes and a lighter. When Dominick’s mother tried to stop her boyfriend, she was beaten as well.  Dominick was beaten so badly that he was in and out of consciousness. Regardless, Hayes would drag his helpless body from one room to the next, torturing him, saying he deserved to die. Dominick’s aunt came in on the fourth day to find Dominick on the floor, unconscious, dressed in only a t-shirt and pull-ups. Dominick was rushed to the hospital and pronounced brain-dead.  Doctors had to remove part of his skull due to severe brain swelling. On April 12, little Dominick Calhoun passed away after being taken off life support.

During the investigation, neighbors told police that they heard the beatings and screams. They heard little Dominick crying, “Mommy, make him stop.” What amazes me is that these people heard the cries of an innocent child, and did absolutely nothing! What is wrong with people?!

While pondering this horrific tragedy, a parallel began to unfold before me. This is exactly what hypocritical religious people have done! We all know the Gospel. You can go into any hotel and find a Bible. In America, the truth is right in front of our faces, and therefore we are left without excuse. We KNOW the awful price of our redemption. We know that because of SIN (transgression of the Law of God – 1 John 3:4), the innocent Lamb of God was delivered into the hands of wicked men who reviled Him, beat Him, scourged Him, mocked Him, and delivered Him up to be crucified. Christ was marred more than any man. Let this sink down into your hearts. Christ willingly laid down His life for our eternal redemption, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. This is the most important and valuable thing all people have been given. As we “behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” the last thing we should do is allow the Son of God to be crucified afresh by allowing sin upon us, or our neighbors. 

Just as Dominick’s neighbors could be so heartless and hardened not to speak up on the behalf of the innocent, so the church has allowed, promoted, and even magnified immorality by their silence. What a shame! Woe unto those who sin by silence, for this is why corruption prevails. As Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

Dante Alighieri rightly said, “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.” After seeing the horrific consequence of our lack of duty to look out for one another, it is easy to understand why Dante said this. Let this be a lesson to us all in order to prevent another Dominick from suffering the repercussions of our sin.