A 3-year-old Indiana toddler was seriously injured after being brutally beaten by a 12-year-old who was supposed to be babysitting him.
Noah Brown was hospitalized and placed in an induced coma following his Nov. 29 attack at his father's home in Indianapolis.
The baby's mother, Michelle Lane, wrote in a petition posted online that her child's abuser was her ex-husband's stepson. He had to look after the 3-year-old boy and his 5-year-old brother while his parents went to the store to shop.
“The 12-year-old told his birth father that my son was 'unbearable' as he cried, prompting him to beat him with a belt, slam his head against a bed frame and slam him against a wall,” she continues in her book Message.
It requires childcare workers to be at least 16 years old if they have to care for young people under the age of 6.
“We also need to ensure that the person caring for the children does not suffer from mental health issues that could jeopardize the safety of the young people they are responsible for,” she continues.
A ray of sunshine
Little Noah was a happy and cheerful child before the attack, his grandmother Candy King testified in an interview with a local television station.
“He loved everyone. It would have made your day, that’s for sure,” she pleads.
“The 12-year-old had anger issues. “He couldn’t stand Noah’s crying,” she explains.
After being beaten, the boy hid under a bed before losing consciousness. When his father found him, he was no longer breathing.
The teenager is charged with aggravated assault, serious injury to a person under the age of 14 and possession of a weapon.
Long recovery
Little Noah's seizures prompted doctors to put him in an induced coma.
“We had to put him on life support. Due to the severity of his injuries, part of his skull had to be removed,” added Michelle Lane, the child’s mother.
“He still has a long way to go before he recovers,” she admitted to Fox 59. “We don't know yet if he will have a good quality of life, but we continue to pray for him and hope that everything works out well.
Candy King says doctors are trying to remove the equipment that allows Noah to breathe. “They also stopped giving him the medication that keeps him in a coma so he can wake up,” she said.
According to the New York Post