Jan 18, 2006 11:50 am US/Eastern
Funeral Held For Nixzmary Brown
Priest: Nixzmary 'Beyond The Touch Of Evil'
BROOKLYN (CBS) ―
Mourners packed Saint Mary Church on Manhattan's Lower East Side this morning to say goodbye to Nixzmary Brown, the 7-year-old Brooklyn girl allegedly killed by her abusive stepfather. The crowd spilled onto the street outside, and police closed a two-block stretch of Grand Street.
A priest assured mourners that the tiny victim was now "beyond the touch of evil."
The sounds of weeping filled St. Mary Church on Manhattan's Lower East Side as the girl's body lay inside a coffin draped with a white and red cloth before an altar still decorated with Christmas poinsettias.
"We have a reminder by the death of this child that the violence continues," said the Rev. Robert O'Neil, the church pastor. "She is a witness for us."
The church once served as a shelter for some of the children abandoned on city streets. It was packed to capacity, with the crowd spilling onto the street outside and police closing down a two-block stretch of Grand Street.
One of the dead girl's grandmothers was in attendance, along with an assortment of her relatives and classmates. Schools Chancellor Joe Klein, was in the crowd, as were many people who only learned about the little girl after her death.
Devorah Day, 48, stood with tears streaming down her face on the church steps after the service. "I was an abused child, too," she said in explaining her attendance.
Lucy Rivera, 60, had never met Nixzmary or her family but felt obliged to attend the service in her Manhattan neighborhood. Rivera blamed the little girl's mother for failing to protect the child.
"The first person who should have defended her was the mother," she said. "She was the first person who failed her."
Nixzmary was at home on Jan. 10 when her stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, went to the store and bought yogurt. Later, when one of the yogurts was missing, Rodriguez allegedly flew into a rage and blamed the 7-year-old girl.
According to Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, the stepfather banished the girl to a rodent-infested room with a litter box filled with feces and urine, a wooden chair tied to a radiator and dirty mattresses.
Rodriguez later beat Nixzmary, stripped her naked and dragged her into the bathroom, where he began running cold water in the tub and dunked her head beneath the water, Hynes said. The girl was dead the next morning.
Rodriguez and the girl's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, were indicted Tuesday on charges of second-degree murder, child endangerment and assault. The mother allegedly ignored the loud thumping noises and cries for help that came from the bathroom.
O'Neil, noting that Jesus was born into a world of violence and evil, told the audience that the little girl, like Christ, moved on to a better place.
"Nixzmary is now surrounded by love, beyond the touch of evil," O'Neil said.
(© 2006 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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