A South Bend grandmother has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for three counts of felony child neglect.
The charges against Delia Castile came from an incident on November 4 of last year, which saw her 10-year-old grandson Tramelle Sturgis die at the hands of his father Terry Sturgis. He was convicted in May and sentenced in June to 140 years in prison. Castile was convicted on October 10 after a five-day trial.
Tramelle Sturgis' brother spoke during Thursday's sentencing. He said his grandmother knew the abuse was going on in the home, but chose to ignore it. He also said that he would like to see Castile get home detention.
Castile was given an opportunity to address the court. She directed her comments at her grandson, telling him, "Please forgive me, I didn't know, I would of stopped it, I didn't know."
The judge says testimony showed Castile did know about the abuse. The judge said in all her years of living in Saint Joseph County, there has never been a case that has broken the heart of the community like this.
The judge also added that "the system failed your grandson," a reference to a Department of Child Services visit to the home from before Tramelle's death.
Castile's sentence will be served consecutively. She told the judge she does plans to appeal the decision.
