Name-Calling, Midnight Chores Recounted : Slain Mother Abused Son, Trial Is Told

The mother of a Canoga Park teen-ager accused of murdering her repeatedly berated him as a “faggot” and “not man enough” in front of friends and neighbors, several witnesses testified Wednesday.

For years, Torran Lee Meier, a husky, 17-year-old El Camino Real High School student, took such abuse without answering back or showing any reaction, several neighbors testified on his behalf in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Meier’s mother, Shirley A. Rizk, 34, delivered her verbal attacks day and night in a “screeching” voice loud enough to be heard throughout the neighborhood, said Judy A. Grolla, who lived across the street.

Meier and two friends, Matthew A. Jay, 18, of Woodland Hills, and Richard A. Parker, 24, of Antelope Valley, are charged with strangling Rizk on Oct. 13. They are also accused of trying to poison and then burn to death 8-year-old Rory Rizk, Meier’s half brother, in order to silence him.

Separate Trials

Jay and Parker are to be tried after Meier.

The three are charged with murder, attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy to murder.

Witnesses called Wednesday by Deputy Public Defender James H. Barnes depicted Meier as a model youth who was polite and well-mannered, who looked after his younger brother and who suffered in silence while his mother humiliated him almost every day and forced him to do chores day and night.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Feldman repeatedly objected to the testimony as irrelevant, but Judge George Xanthos ruled that the evidence was needed as a basis for psychiatric testimony that Barnes said he intends to introduce when the trial resumes Monday.

Neighbors said they often observed Meier, on orders from his mother, mowing the lawn, painting the house, fixing the roof and pulling weeds as late as midnight.

While the youth worked, Grolla testified, his mother would “hover over him, and if he made a mistake, she would yell at him.”

The witness called Meier a “normal, joking teen-ager” when his mother was not around, but said he behaved “like a robot” when his mother was present.

Echoing several other witnesses, she called him a “wonderful kid” who was always welcome at her house.

Grolla’s former husband, Stephen S. McAdams, said, “I don’t think he had a normal childhood. He was always working.”

As for the yelling, McAdams said, “I don’t know how he could withstand the abuse he was taking without saying something.”

Patricia Emery, a mother of four who lived next door to the Rizk family, said that Rizk harangued Meier “practically every day,” often up to 30 minutes at a time, but that he never answered back.

Her son, Douglas Emery, 25, testified that Meier had “a loving” relationship with Rory, and often cared for the boy if Rizk was not home.

Several witnesses also testified that Rizk treated Rory in a normal, loving manner, even during times when she heaped abuse on Meier.

The witnesses testified that Rizk, who was described as having a “voluptuous body,” frequently came outside in daylight dressed in a skimpy bikini or a see-through nightie. She would walk around her front yard dressed in a T-shirt “with obviously nothing on underneath,” Grolla said.

Douglas Emery said Rizk “would see if someone was outside, and then she would come outside” dressed provocatively.

Barnes gave no indication why he introduced testimony about the mother’s dress and behavior.