Karyn Parrish, Florida mom arrested for felony child abuse after filming episodes of a child younger than five being subjected to mental and physical abuse, including forced beating with a belt by an elder sibling.
She even had the audacity to film the physical abuse … A Florida mother is accused of physically and mentally abusing her young child.
Karyn S. Parrish, 28, was taken into custody and charged with one county of felony child abuse under the age of five. The mother’s arrest follows official’s claims that the mother forced the sibling of the victim child to hit the other with a belt, with the mother in one instance imploring the elder child, to ‘hit harder, baby!’
According to a news release, Hillsborough County deputies and investigators from the Department of Child and Family Services in Florida were called on Tuesday for a welfare check in the Tampa suburb of Seffner, Florida.
Child discovered showing signs of distress
Upon arrival, they found a young victim who they said showed signs of distress and was shaking and crying. The first thing they noticed was that the child appeared to have a new haircut and that they also had a bruise on their cheek nearly two inches in size. Deputies asked the child what caused the injury to which the child allegedly said that Parrish was responsible.
‘Maybe my mom. Maybe she was slapping me around,’ the child said, according to an arrest affidavit, Local12 reported. ‘She doesn’t remember.’
The child, whose gender wasn’t revealed also said that their mother often told them, ‘they didn’t remember things.’
Parrish later told investigators that she had slapped the child at least three times using the palm of her hand.
‘Hit harder. Hit hard, baby. Beat the crap out of the sly devil.’
A search was then conducted on Parrish’s cellphone. That’s when investigators said they discovered multiple videos that showed the suspect’s disregard for the child’s physical and mental well-being.
‘Detectives discovered videos on Parrish’s phone in which she directed one of her children to strike their sibling (the victim) with a belt,’ stated the affidavit. ‘In one of the recordings, Parrish can be heard laughing and saying, ‘Hit harder. Hit hard, baby. Beat the crap out of the sly devil.”
According to a probable cause affidavit, a second video was found that allegedly showed Parrish cutting the victim’s hair while verbally taunting and harassing the victim. In the video, she can be heard saying that the victim would be ‘tortured’ for eight hours. She also told the victim that ‘if they die, so be it.’
Where was dad?
It wasn’t clear how many children lived in the home, or the whereabouts of the father, with the juveniles removed and placed in the care of a relative, according to authorities.
‘It is absolutely gut-wrenching and incomprehensible to have a case like this, where a mother would inflict such horrifying treatment on her own children,’ said Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister. ‘My heart aches for these two young and innocent children. As Your Sheriff, I promise you that our team will not rest until we ensure that all the children in our community are safe.’
As of Friday, Parrish remained in detention at the Falkenburg Road Jail on a bond of $7,500.
A judge ordered that if the suspect is to be released, she can’t have any contact with the victim or any other minors, including her other children.
