A Kearns couple charged Oct. 12 with kicking, punching and starving a 7-year-old boy in their care were arrested and booked into jail Thursday.
Charges allege the man and woman — who also had a 1-year-old in their custody — had been abusing the older child since 2014.
The charges stem, in-part, from a July 7 incident in which a person the family was living with heard the woman yell at the child about a bag of chips. Shortly after, the witness said, she heard the child screaming, “Don’t kick me,” according to the charges.
When the witness went to check on the 7-year-old, he told her he’d been kicked in the ribs. The witness noted bruises on his chest.
A few days later, another witness heard the man yelling at the child about a pillow, the charges state. That witness then reportedly heard him “hitting and slapping” the child, “followed by a loud impact against the drywall.”
The child also told police that in 2014, the man grabbed him by the neck and slammed his head against the wall. The child also recounted a recent instance in which he’d been kicked in the face and hit with a belt, and the couple kept him home from school for two days to hide the bruises.
The 7-year-old told police he’d been with the couple while they smoked Xanax and described it as having a “burnt plastic smell.”
A witness to the alleged abuse also told police that the couple would often deprive the both children of food, stating that if she didn’t feed them, the children didn’t eat. The 7-year-old said the two fed him about twice a month, despite “plenty” of food being in the home.
The man and woman each face charges of child abuse and three counts of endangerment of a child, according to court records. They remain in the Salt Lake County jail in lieu of $100,007 bond.
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