An couple residing in Oklahoma has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for beating a 5-year-old boy severely he eventually had two strokes.
Rachel Jean Stevens, 29, and her girlfriend, Kayla Ann Jones, 26, pleaded no contest to child abuse and neglect charges, according to the Tulsa World, in a deal with prosecutors.
Stevens who is the mother of the boy took him to the hospital where he was hospitalised in suburban Tulsa for seizures and lesions on his face. The boy told investigators that Stevens and Jones hit him with a belt. It was also revealed that the boy was tied up in a dark room, with duct tape put over his eyes, according to the newspaper.
Stevens also reportedly hit his hand with a hammer, while Jones “kicked him so hard in the groin that it made him bleed,” police said.
The 5-year-old boy later suffered two strokes while at the hospital.
“The nature of the injuries were very severe, but the child is doing very well now in a loving home,” he said. “He is a completely different child now than when this (case) first came in.”