Prosecutors Drop Deposition of 5-Year-Old Girl in Abuse Case Against Her Parents

The Allegheny County District Attorney's office decided not to take the deposition of a 5-year-old girl who may be a witness against her parents in a case involving the alleged abuse of their adopted children, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Judge Jeffrey A. Manning last week ordered the 2- and 5-year-old biological children returned to their parents, Kristen and Douglas Barbour of Franklin Park, but only after the older child's testimony was recorded.

The Barbours face charges they abused the two children they adopted from Ethiopia last year. 

Deputy District Attorney Laura Ditka planned to take a videotaped deposition of the 5-year-old on Tuesday, however, she told the judge she did not want to scare the child, the newspaper reports.

"I think this child is very frightened today, and I think we'd do more harm than good," Ditka said. "If these people will give us assurances, we don't need to damage the child."

Under questioning in court, the P-G reports that both Kristen and Douglas Barbour said they would not discuss the case in any way with their daughter.

Barbour, a Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General, has been suspended from his state job without pay, Attorney General Linda Kelly said in a statement after the couple's arrest Oct. 4.

The biological children were in the care of their grandparents with supervised visits with their parents about twice a week, Douglas Barbour's attorney Charles Porter told the P-G.

There have been no allegations of abuse against the biological children.

The couple adopted the children from Ethiopia in March, according to a criminal complaint filed by county police. An investigation began Sept. 29 after the children—a 1-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy—were treated at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, authorities said.

The couple is due to go on trial July 9.