A 9-year-old suffered a head injury and pancreas damage from alleged abused by his mother and her boyfriend. The Salt Lake County couple were arrested after doctors discovered the injuries and the boy told a therapist about the abuse.
The 25-year-old man was charged with four counts of second-degree felony child abuse and a count of first-degree felony kidnapping in 3rd District Court on Aug. 3. The boy’s 31-year-old mother was charged with a count of second-degree felony child abuse.
The man allegedly slammed the boy’s head into a wall three times, “so violently that this caused dents in the wall,” charging documents state. He also is accused of threatening the boy by holding a knife to his throat, standing on his back and beating him when he exercised incorrectly.
Officials found out about the alleged abuse in the spring. The Division of Child and Family Services took custody of the boy and his siblings and put them in therapy and foster care in late 2016, after doctors found the injuries, according to charging documents. The boy told a therapist the details about the alleged abuse.
The boy also told his therapist that the man put him in a small closet with no light, and he said he was allowed out only to eat and use the bathroom, according to court documents. When bruises were visible, he was not allowed to go to school. Most of the incidents reportedly happened when the boy’s mother was at work, but she occasionally saw the abuse, documents state. The boy said she didn’t stop the abuse “because she was scared.”
The mother took her son to Primary Children’s Hospital in November, reportedly after he said he was “unable to move his arms or legs,” according to charging documents. The boy also had been vomiting for several days, had “low energy and had double vision.”
Doctors found a blood clot in his head, a pancreatic cyst, bruises and other injuries all over his body, charging documents state.
The mother told doctors the boy was injured while doing a flip off a rock two weeks earlier. One of the doctors determined that the head injury had occurred within the past week, and that the other injuries likely had happened on different days, according to charging documents. The doctor said the injuries “would have caused his death if left untreated,” documents stated.
The boy “seemed nervous or frightened” and said he could not remember where the injuries came from when doctors asked about the bruises in the mother‘s presence, according to charging documents.
The man is being held on $250,000 bail, and the woman is being held on $100,000 bail.