Nikolas Cruz’s sister told his sentencing trial that he came from the “polluted womb” of their mother who put her addiction to drugs and alcohol “before anything else”.
Danielle Woodard was the second witness to testify for the defence on Monday as Cruz’s legal team seek to argue that he suffers from foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and other anti-social behavioural disorders caused in part by his mother drinking and taking drugs while pregnant.
The mass killer’s older sister was led into court in handcuffs flanked by law enforcement officers as she awaits trial over an alleged carjacking of an elderly woman.
Woodard shares the same biological mother as Cruz – Brenda Woodard – but they did not grow up together as Cruz was adopted as a baby by Lynda and Roger Cruz while Woodard lived on and off with their mother.
She testified that her brother was born from their mother’s “polluted womb”, telling jurors that she saw her mother smoke cigarettes, drink and smoke crack while pregnant with him.
Woodard lived in foster care when she was 12 and was also raised by “numerous” other people including her grandmother Dorothy, she told the court.
While she described Dorothy as “my mother” saying “I loved my grandmother very much”, she only referred to her biological mother as “Brenda” and admitted that she “hated” her.
Woodard spoke about one time when she went to live with her biological mother in the summer of 1998 – when she was pregnant with Cruz.
“That was the time I was living with Brenda and Nikolas was developing in her polluted womb,” she said.
She said that her mother picked her up to take her to live with her and she noticed that she was pregnant.
“I asked her ‘are you pregnant?’ and she said ‘I was raped’,” she testified.
Woodard said that her mother had a drug problem, a “major problem” with alcohol and would make her give her her own urine so that she could pass drug tests.
Woodard then went on to speak about the day that her brother was born, smiling across the courtroom at him.
“I held him. He was full of life,” she said.
“I looked at my mom and said ‘can we keep him?’... Brenda screamed at me and my grandmother ‘get out of here. Get out of here.’ Because I asked if we could keep him.”
Her appearance on the witness stand marks only the second time she has been in the same room as her younger brother – the first being his birth.
She admitted that she “hated” her mother growing up and later ran away from home to get away from her.
When asked how Brenda Woodard was as a mother to her, she smirked and then fell silent.
Finally, she just said “horrible”.
Cruz’s sister testified about the impact their mother had on her life, as she has been in prison multiple times and has been convicted of 16 felonies.
“She introduced me to a life that no child should ever be introduced to,” she said.
Under cross-examination, prosecutors compared her upbringing to Cruz’s, pointing out that – while they have the same biological parent – they had very different childhoods.
While Woodard was raised on and off by their addict mother, Cruz grew up in a nice neighbourhood in Florida.
“Your mom wasn’t taking you to a psychiatrist? She wasn’t picking up any prescriptions you might need?
“You weren’t staying on a 4500 square foot home... with a jacuzzi and a basketball court?”
Woodard confirmed no.
When presented with a hypothetical question about how she would have felt if someone had paid to adopt her as happened with Cruz, she replied: “I would have thought that would have been a great thing.”
Woodard has a lengthy rap sheet and is currently behind bars in Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami while awaiting charges over an alleged carjacking.
On 6 January 2020, a 72-year-old woman was dropping off a donation to a Goodwill store in Miami when Woodard allegedly jumped into the driver’s seat of the woman’s car.
Police said that the victim tried to get into the car on the passenger seat to try to stop Woodard.
The victim was flung from the moving car and injured in the incident, police said.
Woodard then allegedly crashed the car and tried to flee the scene, but was arrested on felony carjacking and aggravated battery charges.
She is facing a mandatory life sentence on the charges.
Her testimony comes as the defence began its case on Monday as they seek to urge the jury to sentence Cruz to life in prison instead of sentencing him to death.
In October, Cruz pleaded guilty of 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
Jurors must now unanimously decide whether to sentence him to death or to life in prison without parole.
On 14 February 2018, Cruz travelled to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and carried out one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.
The 14 students killed in the massacre were: Alyssa Alhadeff, Martin Duque, Nicholas Dworet, Jaime Guttenberg, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup and Peter Wang.
The three adults killed were: Scott Beigel, Chris Hixon and Aaron Feis.
