Scalded with hot water, choked, beaten. Witnesses describe abuse of Coast 12-year-old.
A 12-year-old Pascagoula boy was standing naked in a bathtub with his hands zip-tied behind his back when one of his alleged abusers poured a pot of scalding hot water over him, according to witnesses in a pre-trial hearing for two suspects in the case.
The boy told social workers, police and others that no one sought medical treatment for his burns, but instead one of his caretakers rubbed medication over the burns to try and prevent an infection.
The burns left “scarring that took up the entirety of the minor’s back,” Jackson County Youth Court Intake Officer Katy Frazier said.
Frazier and others testified in the March hearing in the felony child abuse and neglect case of Tiffany Therese Brown and her son, Michael Blackburn Jr., both of Bay St. Louis.
Both Brown and Blackburn have denied any wrongdoing, and both are free on bond pending trial.
Assistant District Attorney Cherie Wade and Bill Barrett are prosecuting the case. The testimony came out in the hearing to determine whether what the boy told the witnesses could be considered evidence at a trial, a date for which has not been set.
Defense attorneys Donald Rafferty and Todd Farrar questioned the truthfulness of some of the boy’s statements, including questioning whether the witnesses were aware of the boy telling others the burns on his back were the result of a fireworks’ injury.
But, a witness said, the boy explained that he told a foster parent that it was fireworks injury because he didn’t feel comfortable sharing what really happened.
A ladle, a scarf and no place to sleep
Brown, Blackburn and the boy were living in a Pascagoula apartment when the alleged crimes occurred between August 2016 and April 2017, the indictment says.
The boy, according to witnesses, called Blackburn his brother and Brown his mother since he had lived with them since his own mother’s death when he was 2 years old.
The boy told social workers, police and other witnesses that it was Blackburn who zip-tied his hands and Brown that poured the hot water over his back.
The boy shared other alleged abuse with the witnesses.
When the boy did bad things, he said, he was repeatedly whipped with a metal ladle and the witnesses said saw bumps on the boy’s arms, legs and back that were consistent with an injury from being hit with a metal object.
In addition, witnesses said, the boy recalled being choked with a scarf wrapped around his throat, and said he was punished in other ways, liking having food withheld for days.
On another occasion, a witness recalled how Pascagoula police responded to a call at the apartment complex where the three were living and found the boy sleeping outside.
According to the witnesses, officers asked the boy what he was doing outside and he told them he had been kicked out of his home.
Signs of neglect
The boy showed signs of neglect because when he was taken to Youth Court, a former social worker said, he was wearing very dirty clothes and appeared not to have bathed for some time.
In addition, the boy was very thin and was developmentally delayed. The social worker said didn’t act like a typical 12 year old because he did not recall attending school since the time he was in kindergarten.
Brown had told authorities the boy didn’t go to school because he had placed a substance in a teacher’s drink when he was very young in an attempt to harm her.
However, the witnesses that included employees of the state Department of Child Protective Services, said they found no evidence of the boy ever trying to taint a teacher’s drink with a harmful substance.
Each of the witnesses stood by their statements that the boy had been the victim of abuse and neglect.
In fact, the witnesses said, the boy was so developmentally delayed that he didn’t know simple practical things like the number of days in a week.
The alleged abuse had profound effects on the boy.
“He became very stressed and nervous around people and not just a crowd,” Frazier said.
The boy showed other signs of neglect and abuse, including that he didn’t seem to interact or play like most kids, instead opting at Youth Court, for example, to sit on the floor and play alone.
Brown and Blackburn were each indicted on a felony child abuse charge that carries a sentence of between five years and life in prison. The felony child neglect charge could add an additional five years to their sentence if convicted.
