“I Couldn’t Control Myself”: Judge Sentences Illegal To 15 Years After Evidence Presented

A 32-year-old illegal immigrant was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison for torturing a 3-year-old girl and two 1-year-old twins (pictured above).

Illegal immigration is a massive problem plaguing our country. Despite this, many on the left continue to advocate for policies protecting undocumented aliens from deportation. Because of this, innocent people are currently being harmed by people who shouldn’t be in this country in the first place.

For example, an illegal immigrant living in Danbury, Connecticut, was recently sentenced to prison for torturing a young girl in her care after “nanny cam” footage caught her burning, beating, and dragging the helpless child. Specifically, Lidia Quilligana, a 32-year-old undocumented alien, was captured on video “holding the 3-year-old’s hands and legs to a hot stove, slapping her and dragging her around by [her] hair.” In addition to the 3-year-old girl, she also reportedly brutally abused two other 1-year-old twins. As a consequence, she was sentenced to 15 years behind bars.

Lidia Quilligana, a 32-year-old undocumented alien, in court.

In court, prosecutors struggled to hide their disgust. For instance, while addressing the court, Assistant State’s Attorney Warren Murray, stated, “the abuse occurred virtually every day that we have video for, [which is a total of 10 days]. While Lidia may seem petite, she was big enough to casually pick up a 3-year-old girl and swing her around by the hair, much like a track star swings a hammer. It was just so disturbing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Attorney Sharon Dornfeld was equally repulsed. “[Quilligana] tortured those children. There is no other way to describe it,” she told the court, noting, “there was an amount of sustained and depraved cruelty that I’ve never seen before. Every parent at some point snaps and does something to their child they later regret. The video shows this case isn’t even close to that.”

Kevin Russo, the judge presiding over the case, was also disgusted by the horrific abuse. “The punishment doesn’t even come close to fitting the crime,” he mentioned while sentencing Quilligana. He was particularly taken aback by one moment in the video when she let the 3-year-old girl out of a toy box and ordered her upstairs. When she complied, Quilligana violently slapped her in the face.

Judge Kevin Russo.

“As she turned up the stairs, you slapped her. For what?” asked judge Russo. She had already complied with your orders,” he pointed out, noting, “what it did was serve as a coming attraction for a horror movie.” He added, “it’s clear from her body language that (the girl) had accepted that beatings were part of her 3-year-old life.”

During the trial, Quilligana did her best to apologize to the family. “I couldn’t control myself,” she claimed, adding, “believe me, I loved those children with all my heart. I’m sorry a thousand times.”

But the victim’s mother, however, was not interested in an apology. “To be frank, I’m not the one you should apologize to,” she said in a brief statement to the court, noting, “you need to own up to what you did and serve your time. There is no excuse for your behavior.”

The children’s godmother added, “I can’t even fathom what these children went through that wasn’t caught on video. I can’t imagine spending day after day with this torture. These were all babies.”

Although Quilligana’s attorney, Jenn Tunnard, agreed that the abuse was “unthinkable, unconscionable and unfathomable,” she tried to blame it on her being abused as a child herself. ”Her father, who drank heavily, would hang Lidia and her siblings by their legs and beat them until they bled,” claimed Tunnard, who mentioned that she was simply disciplining the children the only way she knew how. ”While the public may see my client as a monster, she is really a sad person who lost control,” she explained.

Regardless of whether or not Quilligana is a monster or a sad person who just lost control, she shouldn’t have been in this country in the first place. After her 15 year sentence, she should be deported from the country. This is because no one should be harmed by someone living in the country illegally. While it’s true that not everyone living here unlawfully will commit additional crimes, since some will, letting them stay is simply not worth the risk.