HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Homestead police arrested a couple on Tuesday after they said a 5-year-old had injuries so severe from a beating with a belt and sandal that he had to be treated at a hospital.
Maurice Timothy Dukes, 36, and his girlfriend, Sarahi Azucena Gonzalez, 22, are facing aggravated child abuse and child neglect charges.
Investigators said a doctor at Baptist Health Homestead Hospital told them that the boy, Dukes’ son, “was brought to the emergency department with various injuries” from the abuse, prompting police involvement. An arrest report doesn’t state who brought the boy there.
“The injuries appeared to be in various stages of healing and included the following: linear looped markings, abrasions and facial trauma with both of the victim’s eyes swollen and bruised,” the report states.
Police said Dukes, Gonzalez and the victim’s 12-year-old cousin inflicted the injuries.
The child’s aunt, Kiemaya Jackson, told Local 10 News through tears that the boy “had gashes, like he was whooped like a slave.”
“He had two big black eyes, his eyes were really swollen,” Jackson said. “The baby had bruises wrapped around his body from his neck all the way down to his feet, from the inner thighs.”
Authorities said both Dukes and Gonzalez admitted to beating the boy and admitted to not seeking medical attention.
Jackson said the boy had been in Dukes’ care since his mother, her niece, died several months ago.
“Every time we tried to hug him, he would flex like he was nervous,” Jackson said. “Paramedics, police, everybody cried. That baby went through a lot. He went through a lot.”
Gonzalez said she hit the child “with a belt and ‘chancleta’” because “no one would help her when she asked for help with caretaking,” according to the arrest report.
“I am hurt, because that is my nephew and if you were stressed I feel like you could’ve reached out for help,” Jackson said. “The damage that was done to my nephew, it really hurts. And we need answers to it.”
Police said Gonzalez additionally admitted that the boy’s cousin “struck the victim on the face multiple times after (he) bit him.”
Both adults were arrested while the 12-year-old was listed as being “at large” in the arrest report.
As of Wednesday, both adults were being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center: Dukes on a $6,000 bond and Gonzalez on a $4,000 bond.
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