Pocono News Section

Mother of Scranton Arson Victims Breaks Her Silence

Mother of Scranton Arson Victims Breaks Her Silence - Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 7:44PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Tuesday, Aug 25, 2009 @ 07:44pm EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY - The man who is the prime suspect in a deadly arson in Scranton was back in court Tuesday morning. William Woods was in court for a preliminary hearing on charges of simple assault and making terroristic threats.

Tyaisha Leary, the mother of the two young victms, was also in court to testify against Woods.

After the hearing, Leary talked with the media for the very first time. She says seeing Woods in court was extremely difficult.

"I wanted to jump over the thing (bench) and strangle him. I wanted to literally beat him with my shoe," Leary said.

Leary told a judge how he threatened her with a knife and even threatened to burn down her house. The home did later catch fire killing two of her sons, Michael and Taevon. In court, Leary repeatedly portrayed Woods as an angry person.

"The kids would drink his juice or eat something of his and he would fly off the handle and want to yell or punish them," Leary said.

Leary did get a PFA against Woods after all of threats. She now wants everyone to learn from her tragedy and pain.

"You need to take everything the man -- or woman -- will say, you need to take it seriously and believe it, not just pass it off," Leary said.

Police say Woods is a suspect in the deadly arson. He has not yet been charged.

"We want to make sure that we have all our evidence and all our information is correct. There were a lot of witnesses," assistant district attorney Corey Kolcharno said.

Witnesses or not, Leary says she knows justice will come.

"I cry everyday. Every single day. There's not a day that goes by. He can't get away with it. He did it. I know he did it. I didn't have any enemies," Leary said.

A defense lawyer for William Woods also asked the judge to reduce his bail from $500,000. That request was denied.