GWINNETT COUNTY, GA – A couple in Georgia have been accused of torturing a 13-year-old girl for years to the point she is permanently disfigured.
Warning for those of you who are disturbed by extreme child abuse stories: skip this one.
After a teacher noticed one of her 13-year-old students may be the victim of child abuse, she contacted Gwinnett police.
The resulting investigation initially resulted in the girl’s biological mother and stepfather being charged with one count of child abuse. That was until investigators began talking to the victim and found she has endured years of torture.
“Once we started talking to her it became very clear that it was a much more significant case,” Assistant District Attorney Tracie Cason said. “The severity of what happened to this child over a number of years is just astounding.”
According to the Gwinnett County D.A.’s office, the girl’s stepfather, 32-year-old Rimmon Lewis, was convicted of abusing the girl in 2014 and placed on probation. But the abuse continued at the hands of both Lewis and her own mother, 33-year-old Angela Strothers.
“She was not allowed to eat with the family. She was not allowed to eat until her stepfather determined that she could eat, and when she was allowed to eat, often she was only given leftovers while the family ate a full, hot meal; Or she was given PB&J or at times she was made to eat cat food,” said Cason.
In one incident, she was forced to drink laundry detergent. She was only allowed to take very hot or very cold baths — sometimes with peroxide or lemon juice added to the water. She was locked in a laundry room for so long she urinated on herself — and was then made to go to school in her urine soaked clothes.
The victim was also made to stand barefoot on cans while writing things like “I will respect my father” 1000 times. This happened almost daily. The victim’s mother is accused of seriously disfiguring the girls back and feet by beating her with a child’s table leg and a belt.
The girl also has scars at the corners of her moth from Lewis pushing his thumbs into her mouth “with such force as to split the corners of her mouth.” He reportedly did this because the girl stuttered around him.
After these details emerged, that initial count of child abuse the couple were facing was upgraded. Lewis is now charged with 15 counts of cruelty to children and four counts of aggravated battery. Strothers is now charged with four counts of cruelty to children.
The couple have also been charged with one count of aggravated stalking for, get this, trying to get in contact with the girl. According to the D.A.’s office, they tried buying the girl clothes and promised the abuse would never happen again.
I’m pretty sure they are only sorry they got busted and were just trying to stay out of jail and not lose custody of their four other children — who are all now in DFCS custody.
This article was written by Morbid for The Dreamin Demon - the Internet's self-appointed buzzkill.