This is so infuriating.
Jennifer Denen, 30, and her boyfriend Clarence Reed, 47, have been charged with domestic battery, permitting abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor. Police officers in Hot Springs, Ark., became aware of the dangerous situation after receiving a tip from a staffer at the Cooper-Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center about a possible case of child abuse.
Authorities discovered Denen's four-year old daughter had been repeatedly abused by her boyfriend. The condition this child was found in is absolutely horrific. But to make it worse, it appears that the girl's mother never attempted to stop the abuse from happening.
Denen reportedly stood by while her boyfriend hit the young child with a “half-inch-thick wooden paddle” and zip-tied her to her own bed “to punish her for climbing the kitchen cabinets.”
According to the Washington Post, the little girl had “deep purple bruises, a black eye, a swollen cheek and a mark on her forehead.”
She also had healing scars across her back, dried blood in the corner of her mouth and ligature marks on her wrist, authorities said.
When police asked the young girl what her name was, she responded, "Idiot."
And these adults seem to have not one ounce of remorse for their actions. Denen was allegedly aware that her boyfriend would sometimes call the girl an idiot, but she did not indicate to police officers whether she said anything to stop it. Reed, on the other hand, reportedly told police that he “meant it as a joke.”
The couple had five other kids under their roof, including an 11-month old that was their only child together.
There have been no media reports of whether or not these children experienced the same abuse. But thankfully, police rescued all of them. The abused child and the 11-month old are in state custody. The four other siblings have been taken in by their biological father.