Woman accused of biting her 11-year-old son
Published: October 6, 2012
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ST. THOMAS - After more than six months of investigation, police last week arrested a St. Thomas mother and accused her of biting her 11-year-old son.
The 38-year-old woman appeared Friday for an advice-of-rights hearing on charges of third-degree assault, aggravated assault and battery, child abuse, mayhem and two counts of domestic violence in V.I. Magistrate Court.
V.I. Police Officer Ana Jimenez said the incident occurred shortly after midnight on March 26. The woman's son told police he was awakened by his mother screaming, so he got out of bed to see what was happening, according to court records.
The woman began yelling at her boyfriend, then "plopped on the floor" behind her bedroom door to keep her boyfriend from opening it, according to court records. The boyfriend pushed on the door until he got it open and went inside, according to the affidavit.
When the woman's boyfriend left the room, her son went in and his mother began to grab him, according to Jimenez. The 11-year-old tried to get away but could not, Jimenez wrote.
"The boy said that at that moment his mother grabs a hold of his right arm and begins to bite," Jimenez wrote.
At that point, police arrived and tried to pull the mother off her son, but she would not let go. Officers used pepper spray on the woman, and she let go of his arm, but then "grabbed hold of his left pinky with her teeth."
The boy told Jimenez "the police had to use a comb to shove it in his mother's mouth to pry it open," according to the affidavit.
The woman and her son were taken to the hospital, according to the affidavit. The boy was treated for human bites to his right upper arm and left pinky finger. The mother was treated "for injuries sustained during the intervention along with her psychosis."
Jimenez took statements from the woman's boyfriend and the 11-year-old's younger sister, both of whom corroborated the boy's account. Photographs of the boy's injuries "show that the area has not healed well and that the arm is badly scarred."
V.I. Magistrate Judge Alan Smith released the woman, who had no previous arrests, on her own recognizance, according to court records. He imposed several conditions on her release, including that she report to the probation office once a week and take her medications as prescribed.
- Contact reporter Lou Mattei at 714-9124 or email lmattei@dailynews.vi.
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