Mom, Girlfriend Accused of Child Torture Police Say Boy Couldn't Open Hands Because of Being Burned on Stove By DEAN SCHABNER
June 15, 2008
A 5-year-old Los Angeles boy was fighting for his life today after suffering what police called one of the worst cases of child abuse they have seen, allegedly at the hands of his mother and her live-in girlfriend.
Starkeisha Brown, left, was charged with torturing her 5-year-old son on June 13, 2008. Krystal Matthews, right, Brown's live-in girlfriend, was charged with willful harm or injury to a child.
(LAPD)
Police said the boy had countless cigarette burns all over his body, including his genitals, was unable to open his hands because he had been forced to put them flat on a hot stove, and was repeatedly beaten and forced to sit in his own urine.
"In my time in policing in 27 years, I have never seen anybody with these kinds of injuries that has lived," Los Angeles Police Department First Assistant Chief James McDonnell said. "And this kid must have a tremendous will to live to be able to still hang on despite what he's been through."
The boy's mother, Starkeisha Brown, 24, was arrested after she turned herself in to police on Friday evening.
Krystal Matthews, 19, who police described as Brown's live-in girlfriend, was arrested earlier Friday when she showed up for an appointment with the state Department of Children's Services, police said.
ABC News: Mom, Girlfriend Accused of Child Torture