By Mark Bellune
markbellune@yahoo.com
Tim Jones Jr.’s father believes his son is crazy.
He had to be crazy to murder his 5 kids, he testified Wednesday. 
His Red Bank son faces the death penalty if found guilty of murdering his 5 children —  Merah, 8; Elias, 7; Nahtahn, 6; Gabriel, 2 and Elaine Abigail, 1 — in their Red Bank home Aug. 28, 2014.
He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Jones’ father, Tim Jones Sr., and his stepmom testified Jones’ grew up in dysfunctional homes with physical fights between adults and drug and alcohol abuse.
4 babysitters also testified Wednesday.
1 moved in with Jones and had a sexual relationship with him while he went through a divorce.
2 of the babysitters said Jones was an ideal, loving father.
Another said he spanked 2 kids with a belt with their pants down to their knees, failed to feed them adequately and kept a filthy home.
“5 babies are dead,” Jones Sr. said before the jury went home for the day. 
“Someone’s going to be f***ing crazy.”
“5 years of this has ripped my family apart,” he said before court adjourned for the day just before 5 p.m.
Jones said he met his son’s mother when they were both 16 and married her when she became pregnant.
“She was a bit violent and got weird at times,” he said.
Jones’ mother neglected the baby, would try to “flush him out” with laxatives, give him cold baths and yell at the infant when he cried, his father said.
She “really went off the charts” after losing a 2nd baby, he said.
“I was sleeping with my eyes open.”
Jones Sr. checked Cindy Jones into a mental health facility for a week then signed her out.
She disappeared for several months before his brother showed him an advertisement for female escorts in the back of “nudey magazine” with her picture.
After she tried to kidnap his son, he gained custody.
After his son was discharged from a US Navy boot camp, he turned back to drugs and alcohol before going to prison for stealing a car.
Jones Jr. found religion in prison, his father said.
When he got out, he joined a Pentecostal Church his father thought was a “cult.”
The father and son had a falling out at Christmas 2012.
They reconciled a few days before Labor Day 2014.
Jones Jr. said he would bring the kids to Mississippi to visit.
The kids were killed that holiday weekend in Red Bank.
Jones Sr. told the court he still loves his son.
“There’s a fine line between brilliance and insanity,” he said.