Vishv Patel's Dying Words Admitted By Judge

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Mar 4, 2009 9:40PM

Judge Kathryn Creswell has ruled that the dying words of 7-year-old Vishv Patel to his mother will be admitted in the trial of Vishv's father, Kaushik Patel. Kaushik has been charged in the November 18, 2007 attack of his two sons, Vishv and 4-year-old Om, by dousing them in gasoline and setting them on fire. Om died two months later, on January 17, 2008 and Vishv died on February 19, 2008.

Judge Creswell ruled that Vishv's statement to his mother on January 12, 2008, "was a conversation between a badly burned boy, who recently had tubes removed from his throat, and his mother, that was initiated by the boy. The mother was at his bedside out of parental concern." Creswell was required by law to approve the testimony before the beginning of Kaushik's trial, as Illinois law requires a judge's admittance of all testimony from any deceased person. But another statement by Vishv was not allowed.

Creswell ruled that a similar statement by the same boy the following day would not be allowed because Nisha Patel had told Glendale Heights police about the first conversation and police were present to hear her son tell her the story again. That meant Nisha Patel was acting as an agent of the police, Creswell said...

Nisha Patel testified in a hearing last week that Vishv told her that on the afternoon of Nov. 18, 2007, his father took the boys out to buy toy cars, stopped to buy some gasoline, and returned with the boys to the family home. The mother said that Vishv said their father "told them to get into the bathroom and to get into a green tub."

"Vishv said Daddy poured something over them and he knew it was gas, not water. It burned his eyes as it was poured over him," the mother said. "Vishv then said Dad stood up with a lighter, he heard some noise and him and his brother were hurt."

Kaushik had previously pleaded guilty but prosecutors rejected his plea deal as it would have given him life in prison while they want to seek the death penalty.