The mother of a 13-year-old autistic child said a hidden camera in her home caught a caretaker beating her son. That caretaker is now charged with criminal abuse.
Penny Harbin said she is speaking out because both she and police believe her son may not be the only mentally challenged person allegedly abused by this caretaker.
"I can't imagine a day without Chris," said Penny Harbin, but she's been forced to imagine the possibility of losing her son after what she saw captured by a camera hidden in a stuffed animal in her home.
She and her husband put up the camera after noticing odd behavior from Bereket Haile, an in-home sitter provided by a nursing company to take care of her autistic child, who doesn't speak and suffers with seizures.
"In my eyes, he would be a little more rougher than what he should be with Chris," she said. "My husband said, 'Something's not right here; we need to put a camera up and see what actually is going on.'"
She described what the camera caught Haile doing to her son on Sept. 8, as she was out and her husband was in the garage.
"I saw him take his knuckle and extend it out and continue to hit the top of his head," she said. "I also saw him take the TV controller and backhand and hit him underneath the chin to where his head went back. Then I saw Chris lay down on the couch and very softly cry."
Harbin said Haile spat repeatedly on her living room carpet as Chris lay on the couch crying.
After turning over the videotape to detectives, she said they found more abuse.
"He had received one blow that was very, very severe enough that it could have done brain damage," she said. "I feel like there's others out there that he has abused or taken advantage of."
http://www.wlky.com/r/25104320/detail.html
No comments:
Post a Comment