Witness: Michael Valva did 'nothing' as ex-fiancee Angela Pollina attacked his son

A plumber who did work at the Center Moriches home of Michael Valva broke down in tears while testifying Thursday, describing how the ex-NYPD officer did nothing as his then-fiancee threw one of his sons down the stairs as punishment for having an accident about six months before 8-year-old Thomas Valva's death. 

"All hell broke loose," said Thomas Norris, a plumber with 35 years of experience and a decadelong family friendship with Valva's ex-fiancee Angela Pollina. "Pollina came yelling, cursing and screaming, 'this is the way I take care of [expletive] business.' She took the kid and threw him down the stairs." 

Norris, who testified at Valva's murder trial in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, said he was fixing the shower in Valva's and Pollina's master bathroom in July 2019 when Valva came home and found that one of his sons, who had been locked in their bedroom, had apparently wet the bed.

Norris said Valva went downstairs to apparently get some cleaning supplies, when Pollina flew into a rage, throwing and dragging the boy down the stairs and out the front door. Norris said he did not know which boy she attacked. Norris said Pollina said she didn’t watch the boys when Valva wasn’t home, and instead, locked them in their room.

Valva, who was standing at the bottom of the steps inside the two-story home, didn't intervene as the boy cried and Pollina shouted, Norris said. 

"Nothing," Norris said in response to prosecutor Laura Newcombe. "He didn't do nothing." 

Valva, 43, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and child endangerment charges in the death of Thomas and the alleged abuse of his eldest son, Anthony, then 10. Both boys were on the autism spectrum but high-functioning, prosecutors have said. Pollina, 45, has also pleaded not guilty to the charges and is set to be tried separately.

Prosecutors have said Valva and Pollina forced Thomas and Anthony to sleep in the garage of their home for months before Thomas’ death, as a punishment for their incontinence issues, which only began when the boys began living with their father. The night before Thomas died, prosecutors said, he was banished to the uninsulated garage, when it was just 19 degrees.

Valva's attorneys have argued that Valva never thought his son would die from sleeping in the garage and only agreed to the arrangement to please Pollina, who they said dominated the relationship and had grown increasingly frustrated with the two boys' incontinence issues.

Thomas’ cause of death was hypothermia, prosecutors said, and his body temperature was 76.1 degrees when he died at the hospital. Prosecutors have also said Valva lied to police and emergency responders when he told them Thomas fell in the driveway of their home as he ran for the school bus on the day he died.

Norris at times rolled his eyes and looked away as lead Valva defense attorney John LoTurco, who repeatedly offered Norris the opportunity to take a break, questioned him on cross-examination. 

LoTurco attempted to draw attention to perceived inconsistencies between Norris' sworn statement to police and his court testimony. For example, Norris had told police the boys were locked in their room for five hours, but on the witness stand Thursday, he didn’t recall the exact time period.

"I don't like the way he's talking to me," Norris said, turning to Supreme Court Justice William Condon, the presiding trial judge.

LoTurco said he apologized if Norris felt offended. 

At another point, LoTurco asked the witness: "[Valva] didn't strike Angela in any way?" 

Norris shot back: "He should have." 

Asked by LoTurco if he reported Pollina to Child Protective Services or the police, Norris said he had not. “I wish I did,” Norris said about calling CPS. 

Another witness, Tina Licari, who testified that she gave piano lessons to one of Pollina’s daughters in the home’s basement, said she heard Pollina yell at the Valva boys upstairs.

“It was vicious,” said Licari. “She would have outbursts of rage.”

Also testifying Thursday was Constance Dinkel, the assistant chief of the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory, who testified about finding nine crumpled up pieces of paper that was “strewed about the garbage,” during a police search of the Valva family trash can outside their Bittersweet Lane home, several days after Thomas’ death.

The nine pages consisted of repeated pledges, handwritten in what appeared to be pencil. "I will listen to mom” and “I will not pee my pants,” Dinkel read to the jury. Also included were two letters written by Anthony to school officials in which he apologized for alleged infractions.

 Dinkel also testified that she smelled gasoline near two black trash bags found outside the home that an earlier witness said contained a burned crib mattress. Prosecutors have said the boys initially slept on a crib mattress in the garage, but it was taken away, and they were then forced to sleep on the bare concrete floor. 

The trial continues in Riverhead on Friday.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.