News summary
- A baby had the fingers of his right hand amputated after being bitten by rats.
- The incident is considered one of the worst cases of child neglect ever witnessed in the United States.
- In total, the child suffered more than 50 bites on his forehead, cheeks, nose, thighs, feet and fingers.
David and Angel Schonabaum are accused of negligence. Disclosure / Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office
A 6monthold baby had all the fingers of his right hand amputated after being chewed on by rats. Authorities in Evansville, Indiana, are calling this one of the worst cases of child neglect in recent memory.
The child suffered more than 50 bites to her forehead, cheeks, nose, thighs, feet and fingers while sleeping in Evansville. The day after the incident, on September 14, the minor’s father found him without fingers on his right hand.
After being left to bleed for hours, the baby lost a lot of blood and required an emergency transfusion. He was taken to a local hospital and later airlifted to Indianapolis, Indiana.
In the city, doctors worked intensively on the baby’s injuries and released him last Friday (22) after several days of treatment. Experts reported that the damage was mostly limited to the child’s right hand and forearm.
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“All four fingers and the thumb [da vítima] “This hand was missing the flesh on its upper part, exposing the bones of the fingertips,” the police wrote on Monday (25), after arresting the children’s parents and the aunt who lived with them, on Friday on the charge was arrested by negligence.
Police in the nearby Kentucky city say the trio, consisting of 31yearold David Schonabaum, 28yearold Angel Schonabaum and 25yearold Delania Thurman, who also lived at the Evansville residence, admitted the incident.
“Their excuse was that they didn’t hear the child crying,” Sergeant Anna Gray of the Evansville Police Department said Friday after the baby’s release.
Anna added that the house was full of rodents and rubbish, such as discarded food left in the victim’s room, where four other young children were believed to live. In addition to the 6monthold baby, David and Angel have two other children, ages 3 and 6. The other two who lived in the house are Delania Thurman’s children.
The investigation revealed that David and Angel had an open case with the Indiana Department of Children’s Services because of poor conditions in their home since December, when one of their children was injured due to “lack of supervision.” Police reported that the service began visiting the family home twice a week starting in April. But as the condition of the house began to “slowly improve”, no action was taken against the couple.
Sergeant Anna reported on Friday that all the children were in nursing homes, including the baby whose fingers were amputated and who had just been released from hospital. David and Anna are currently being held on bail of US$10,000 (R49,877). Delania Thurman, the aunt who lived in the house, is being held on bail of R$2,500 (R$12,469).