Lesbian couple beat 5-year-old son with a hammer and duct-taped his eyes shut
A lesbian couple have been found guilty of brutally abusing a five-year-old child.
The women were sentenced to 20 years behind bars after they beat the child with a hammer and kicked him in the groin, leading the boy to suffer two strokes.
Rachel Stevens, 29, and her partner Kayla Jones, 26, pleaded no contest to child abuse and child neglect charges.
Alarms were first raised about the child’s safety in 2015 after the then five-year-old was flown to a medical centre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, suffering from seizures.
Doctors urgently contacted police when they discovered several broken bones at various stages of healing.
They also concluded the child had been malnourished.
When investigators spoke to the boy he revealed a horrifying life of abuse and neglect.
He had been tied up, had his eyes duct taped closed and kept in a locked room by the two women, according to court documents.
He was also struck with a hammer and whipped with a belt by both his mother and her girlfriend.
However the women denied being responsible for the abuse, even setting up a GoFundMe page to ask for help, claiming the son was harming himself.
The victim’s twin brother also lived in the house, but he is not believed to have been a victim of the women and is now living with relatives.
Muskogee County District Attorney Orvil Loge said the plea agreement includes a stipulation that neither woman can contact the child while serving their 20 year sentence.
“It was a conclusion that was carefully discussed with the family,” the District Attorney said.
“The nature of the injuries were very severe, but the child is doing very well now in a loving home.
“He is a completely different child now than when this (case) first came in.
“He received the most wonderful care and is in a great home right now, and I feel confident that he is going to be OK.”
