TORONTO, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A Canadian couple who kept their adopted boys in cages and beat them regularly for 13 years pleaded guilty in an Ontario court to several criminal charges.
The kids' house of horrors, discovered after relatives filed a complaint in May, 2001, shocked Durham Region police and children's aid officials, the Toronto Star reported Thursday.
One of the youths -- then 15 -- was found curled up in a padlocked cage fashioned from a baby crib. A 14-year-old came out of another bedroom, which also contained a cage.
The court heard that when released and told he would never suffer such treatment again, the bewildered 15-year-old responded, "Really?"
The boys were taken into foster care that day and are "doing as well as can be expected," police told the Star.
The court was told the boys attended school during the day but were sent back to their cages in the evening wearing diapers.
As part of a plea bargain, the adoptive parents -- the father is 51 and the mother 42 -- agreed to plead guilty to assault with a weapon, forcible confinement and failure to provide the necessities of life.
Sentencing is scheduled for April.
