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FILED IN: DEMITRIOUS COTTON, MEL COTTON, MILTON GOBERT, MURDER, MURDERED MOTHERS, TEXAS

My heart goes out to this dear boy.  From News 8 Austin:

Child recounts the night his mother was murdered

Updated: 2/25/2010 6:53 AM
By: Harlan Schmidt

Demitirous Cotton and his mom Mel when Demitrious was just three years old.

It was a riveting day of testimony in the capital murder trial of Milton Gobert, who stands accused of stabbing 30-year-old Mel Cotton to death in 2003.

Cotton’s son, Demitrious Cotton, was five when he witnessed his mother’s murder. He was also stabbed during the attack, but survived.

Now 11 years old, Demitrious took the stand Wednesday to testify face-to-face against the man accused of the attack. A full courtroom watched as he passed just feet from the man he said he saw stab his mother to death.

The boy’s family and prosecutors diligently tried keeping the boy at ease, while he was forced to recount the events of that night.

The boy answered question after question, telling how the man bound his mother while demanding her purse and repeatedly stabbed her with a knife.

“What did the knife look like?” the prosecutor asked.

“Sharp, and it had a brown handle,” he answered.

“Was the man doing anything with the knife?” the prosecutor asked.

“Yes,” Demitrious answered.

“What did you see the man do?” Demitrious was asked.

“Stab my mom,” he said.

Gobert listened as Demitrious’ testimony continued.

“What did you do when you saw the man, and your mom, and what the man was doing?” he was asked.

“I ran over and tried to pull him down by his leg,” Demitrious answered.

“You tried to pull the man down by his leg?” the prosecutor asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“And did you say anything to the man?”

“Yes.”

“What did you say?” the prosecutor asked.

“Stop.”

Demitrious told how the man came in to his room and choked him until he was unconscious. When he awoke, he had been stabbed.

Demitrious now lives with his aunt.

The prosecution showed Demitrius a picture of him and his mother when he was three and asked him why he was bravely reliving the memories he has talked about so little since.

“What is the reason you’re trying your best to remember?” the prosecutor asked.

“For my mom,” he answered.

Demitrious now lives with his aunt, and he told the court his favorite activities were reading and playing his PlayStation.

If convicted of capital murder, Gobert could face the death penalty. It will be up to the jury to determine the sentence.