Brain-damaged girl able to talk to police

BOSTON, April 29 (UPI) -- A 14-year-old Massachusetts girl who suffered brain damage from alleged parental abuse was able to give police a statement from her hospital room.

Haleigh Poutre has been in a children's rehab hospital in Boston for two years, The Boston Globe reported. In 2005, she was declared to be in an irreversible vegetative state, and a court ruled that she should be allowed to die.

A source told the Globe that Haleigh, using gestures and simple language, said last December that her aunt and adoptive mother, Holli Strickland, and her stepfather, Jason Strickland, used brutal physical punishments. But she was unable to give details about what put her in a coma.

The family lived in Westfield in western Massachusetts.

Samantha Poutre, her 11-year-old sister, has reportedly told police that Haleigh was kicked downstairs. She originally said that her sister had injured herself.

Jason Strickland is awaiting trial on child abuse charges. Holli Strickland was killed by her grandmother, who then took her own life, shortly after she was charged.