MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – A 13-year-old boy escaped frequent abuse from his stepfather only to end up suffering the same fate at the hands of his mother, according to Miami Shores police. And investigators said the young teen is not the only person she victimized.
Jasmine Jean-Baptiste, 31, is also accused of abusing a 65-year-old man — who had taken her in after seeing her and her then-toddler son living out of a car — to the point where he is now blind in one eye. She “exploit(ed) his compassion and concern for her children,” police said.
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According to an arrest report from the Miami Shores Police Department, the investigation began after Jean-Baptiste reported her son missing at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, hours after he had run away from home.
The teen would later be found at a school where a woman described as his godmother works, police said.
The seventh-grader described a pattern of abuse that began with his stepfather, who scarred his body with beatings. At one point, he beat him so hard he lost a tooth, police said.
Authorities said the boy reported that his stepfather also forced him to squat “for hours at a time.”
But police said after Jean-Baptiste moved the teen and his sisters to Miami Shores, his mother committed the same forms of abuse.
The report states that he described being slapped repeatedly and being hit with a belt buckle that left a permanent scar.
Investigators wrote that the boy also “told us when he was bad in school, his mother would make him sit in a squatted position for hours on end and never give him water.”
An instance of Jean-Baptiste forcing the boy to squat while she bathed led him to run away from home, police said.
The boy’s coach said a recent incident where Jean-Baptiste said “I am going to kill him,” regarding her son, led school officials to contact the Florida Department of Children and Families.
His godmother also corroborated the abuse claims.
So, too, did the 65-year-old man the family was living with, police said. In fact, they said he too became a victim.
The senior, who said he met Jean-Baptiste nine years ago, said he didn’t report the abuse because he was “scared” of her. She had previously been arrested for beating him, authorities said.
“She will jump on me,” police said he told detectives.
Detectives said the man “became visibly emotional and choked up when reassured that we were there to support him.”
“I’d rather you worry about the kids,” police said he told them.
The report states that the man “was physically shaking, with watery eyes and appeared to be in fear” as he described what Jean-Baptiste also did to him.
Police said in one instance, Jean-Baptiste “struck him across the face with a knife sharpening tool.”
In another, they said she “sucker-punched” the senior, leaving him blind in his left eye. Police said she also knocked out one of his teeth.
“She is f---ing strong. I can’t hit her,” police said the man told detectives. “You know, a male would be blamed for hitting a female.”
Authorities said the man had demonstrated various locking mechanisms he had bought to keep her out of his apartment.
“A witness reported observing a significant and consistent pattern of abuse, including multiple instances of battery on various occasions,” the report states. “The victim further provided photographs from various incidents, which depicted bruising, contusions and facial lacerations consistent with his account of abuse.”
Police said Jean-Baptiste spoke to them. Portions of her alleged statements were redacted from the MSPD arrest report.
They said Jean-Baptiste first claimed she never hit her son or the senior and claimed she didn’t know where her son’s scars came from and said her son lost her tooth by hitting his mouth on a door at school.
Later, police said she admitted the scars were from his stepfather’s abuse. The report states that when confronted about the squatting, she claimed she only asked him to do so for “15 to 20 minutes.”
She then “changed the story,” police said. Her following statement was redacted.
Police said she also made an admission regarding the elder abuse, which was also redacted from the report.
MSPD officers arrested Jean-Baptiste on charges of aggravated child abuse causing great bodily harm and aggravated abuse of an elderly or disabled adult.
As of Friday, she was being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.