A heartbreaking case of child neglect shocks the United States. In Evansville, Indiana, a six-month-old baby was nearly killed by rats. The boy received more than fifty bites during the night.
LOOK. Local residents react with dismay to the incident: “They are good people”
The case started when father David Schonabaum (31) notified emergency services on September 13 that his baby appeared to have serious bite wounds. He and his partner Angel (28) were charged with multiple counts of neglect and other criminal offenses. The baby’s live-in aunt, Delania Thurman, 25, was also arrested on the same charges.
The baby has now left the hospital and is being cared for by a foster family. What the little boy had to endure is downright horrific. Officers found him completely covered in blood with more than fifty bite wounds on his face and head.
Police shocked
“All four fingers and the thumb of his right hand were missing skin at the top, exposing the bones of the fingertips,” reads the report by Detective Jonathan Helm. “The damage to the index and little fingers was the worst, as the skin was missing halfway down each finger.”
The child was partially hypothermic and suffered from a lack of oxygen in the blood. The baby had lost so much blood that he received an urgent blood transfusion in the hospital. Some fingers had to be amputated.
Sergeant Anna Gray of the Evansville Police Department says it is the worst case of child neglect she has ever seen. “It was very hard to watch and it is sometimes very difficult to stay strong and remain professional,” she says.
House full of rat feces
The baby’s parents have two other children, and the live-in aunt also has two. Their home was full of rubbish, garbage and rat droppings. The baby’s father stated that they had been suffering from pests since March, and that a specialist service was treating the house.
But research suggests the baby incident is not the first time rodents have bitten the children. On September 1, two other children reported to their teacher at school that mice had bitten their toes in their sleep. When Child Protective Services workers visited the home on September 9, their mother claimed she was dealing with “a normal amount of rodents” and denied that her children had been bitten by rats. The agency discussed safety measures with the family and scheduled another home visit a day after the baby was attacked.
Parents and aunt arrested
All children in the home have now been removed from their parents and placed under the guardianship of Child Protection. The baby’s father has been in jail without bail since Friday and his wife is also behind bars with a bail of $ 10,000 (9,370 euros). The aunt was already locked up on Thursday, and her bail was set at $2,500 (2,343 euros) on Friday.
LOOK. Local residents react with dismay to drama: “They take good care of their children”
WATCH ALSO. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in March, two little girls stood half-naked screaming in the rain while a six-year-old boy was locked inside a dog cage
WATCH ALSO. In Italy last year, a nine-year-old girl was found who had never slept in a bed and could not speak
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