WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The adopted son of Tim Ferriter took the stand Wednesday afternoon in his father's child abuse trial, describing how he was made to sleep in a box-like structure in the garage of his Jupiter home with nothing but a desk, a mattress and a bucket for him to defecate inside of it.
Ferriter, 48, is on trial facing charges of child abuse, false imprisonment and child neglect. His wife, Tracy Ferriter, is facing the same charges in a separate trial.
The Ferriters' teenage son described to jurors in detail how he was held against his will in an enclosure that had been built for him in the garage of their Egret Landing home, exiled from the rest of his siblings and unable to leave at the decree of his parents.
"I slept in an 8x8 room in the garage," the boy, who is now in 10th grade, testified, explaining how his father hired a contractor to build it in December 2021.
"And how do you know that?" Assistant State Attorney Brianna Coakley asked him.
"Because I was kept in their closet and I overheard the conversation of them having to build it," the boy answered.
Ferriter's son described how he had some carpeting to cover the concrete flooring. In the enclosure was a desk and a twin bed.
"It was just a mattress on the floor," he said.
There was also an air-conditioning unit in the room, which he wasn't allowed to turn on, off or adjust, he said.
"Would you get in trouble if you touched the air-conditioner at all?" Coakley asked him.
"Yes," he said.
"And who did that direction come from?" Coakley asked.
"Tim," he replied.
WATCH: Tim Ferriter's son describes living in room in garage
There was also a light, Ferriter's son said.
"It had a light, but it was controlled outside the room," he said.
His parents controlled the light, he added.
"Were there times that you were in the room in the dark?" Coakley said.
"Yes," the boy said.
"Is that at night sometimes?" Coakley asked.
"Yes, and also during the day," he said.
"OK, so there were periods of time during the day when you would be there in the dark in the room," Coakley said.
"Yes," the boy said.
"What was it like in the room when the lights were off?" Coakley said.
"It was pitch black," he said. "You couldn't see anything."
There was also no bathroom in the room, Ferriter's son said.
"It had a bucket for my urine and feces, but that was basically it," he said.
The boy explained how he wasn't allowed to move freely through the home and was often locked in the room without access to water. He said he ate the "majority" of his meals in the room.
"Did you like being in that room?" Coakley asked him.
"No," he said.
"Did you want to be in the room?" she asked him.
"No," he said.
The boy was then asked how he felt being in the room.
"To me, being locked in the room, it's dehumanizing," he said. "It's almost as bad as genocide."
WATCH: 'It's dehumanizing,' boy says about being locked in room
Ferriter's son said if he resisted, he would be put in the room by "physical force."
He went on to testify that the room was ready for him by the time he got to Florida and that his clothes were kept outside the room in the garage.
Ferriter's son describes typical day at home
Describing a typical school day, Ferriter's son said his parents would wake him up in the morning, unlock the room and let him out to use the bathroom. If he had to use the bucket during the night, he would dump it in the bushes behind the home.
Then he'd be locked back inside the room while he got dressed for school, he testified.
He said he'd "occasionally" get breakfast – it was "probably 50/50" – inside the room or outside the house. It was "the same breakfast every single day" – peanut butter and bread and some sort of fruit.
WATCH: Boy describes 'occasionally' having breakfast before school
For school, Tracy made him a plain peanut butter sandwich, chips and some fruit, he testified. He wasn't able to order any snacks at school, he said.
On most days, once he got home from school, the boy would be put back inside the room, where he was let out only to go to the bathroom before his parents went to bed.
He had a "small selection of toys" and books, which were later removed from the room. He recalled being left with two or three textbooks.
There were "times" when he was allowed to be inside the house, but when he was outside, he was mostly doing yard work, he said.
Ferriter's son said there were "instances of grabbing and pushing" while they were living in Florida, but most of the abuse was verbal.
During cross-examination, Ferriter's son admitted that he didn't think poorly of his adoptive parents.
"I don't have a bad image of Tim and Tracy," he testified. "They just made a mistake. They were just acting out of frantic surprise of my actions. They weren't – I believe that they weren't trying to do any harm."
WATCH: Son says he doesn't have 'bad image' of parents
Those actions included outbursts at home, behavioral issues at school, stealing, embarrassing his sister at school and making her cry, bringing a box cutter to school, impersonating a school board member, injuring his baby brother in Arizona and, when the boy was 4, offering him a beer to conduct an experiment, defense attorney Prya Murad mentioned.
Ferriter's daughter testifies for state
Earlier in the morning, Ferriter's adopted daughter was back on the stand.
Ferriter's oldest daughter testified for the state Tuesday how her dad was the disciplinarian of the household.
She testified that her brother had a room in the garage built for him and that he was the only one of the four children who was made to sleep there. She said he wasn't allowed to be in the house by himself and wasn't allowed to get food by himself, unlike her siblings.
During her testimony, which was conducted via Zoom in another courtroom to shield her from the cameras, the girl recalled how her brother's punishment included doing yard work outside – something her siblings weren't made to do.
She went on to say that she didn't see him very often around the house – he was either outside or in the makeshift room in the garage – and rarely ate with him during family meals.
During her cross-examination, the girl admitted that her brother was allowed to play outside sometimes and recalled celebrating his birthdays with the family while they were in Arizona. She also said he was allowed to participate in track.
The boy's sister testified that her brother had run away twice before in Arizona.
WATCH: Tim Ferriter listens as daughter recalls brother's difficulties in Arizona
When asked about her brother's difficulties in Arizona, she said she didn't know the specifics of why he was in trouble all the time. But she did recall that he was "hyper" and difficult to calm down.
She remembered when her brother was stealing from the home and other people's credit cards.
Asked if she remembered when he was made to write sentences – usually "I will not steal" – she answered: "That's one of them."
Another one was "I will not lie."
"Also another one," the girl answered.
Attorneys set stage
During Tuesday's opening statements, Coakley told jurors how Ferriter's son ran away from home in January 2022, leading Jupiter police to learn about how the then-14-year-old boy was living.
WATCH: Prosecutor says Tim Ferriter's son didn't have bedroom inside home
"There wasn't a bedroom for him," Coakley said. "There weren't his items of clothes. There weren't his toys inside of the house. Instead, there was a structure – a small room, box-like structure that was constructed in the garage that didn't have any windows. It had a box spring and a mattress, a bucket in the corner and a desk."
Coakley explained to jurors how they would see video from a Ring camera that was placed in the corner of the box-like structure.
"The evidence is going to show that that room was not a room that he could come and go as he pleased," she said. "He was locked inside from the outside over and over again."
She also described how jurors would witness video showing the boy having to urinate in the bucket.
During her opening statements, Murad countered that the boy had been "engaging in dangerous behaviors" while the family was living in Arizona and they wanted to keep their toddler safe, so they decided to put a lock on the door of his room.
WATCH: Defense attorney says son had been 'engaging in dangerous behaviors'
"It was for the purpose of monitoring him when they couldn't," Murad told jurors. "Because, unfortunately, they're in a situation where they cannot leave this child unattended. There has to be someone constantly watching him and they cannot do that as two working adults."
Murad said they built a room for the boy in their garage in Arizona once the baby was born and constructed a similar room for him when they moved back to Jupiter.
"Both the room in Arizona and the one in Florida had one very big design flaw – and that is that it did not include a bathroom," she said.
Murad said the boy had been allowed to use the bathroom in the house during the day and used the bucket "a handful of times" during the night.
"This was not some big secret life like the state is presenting," Murad said. "These people went to doctors. They went to therapists. The schools were emailing them back and forth about [the boy's] behavior. They had family members and friends see the room in Arizona. In Florida, they were only here for about four weeks right before Christmas and then school started."
The Ferriters were arrested by Jupiter police in February 2022.
Tracy Ferriter has been present in the courtroom throughout the trial, sitting behind her husband in the gallery and listening to the testimony from police and her children.
Wednesday's proceedings concluded with jurors watching the Ring videos from the teen's room in the garage. Tim Ferriter can be heard repeatedly cursing at his son throughout the videos, which were not shown on the television cameras.
Court was scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. Thursday.
