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WEST VALLEY CITY — A West Valley couple, who allegedly would give their 1-year-old son a "whooping," were arrested after numerous injuries, including bite marks, were found on the boy, police said.
Kiamante Delano Thomas, 23, and Abigail Thomas, 23, are under investigation for 10 counts each of intentional child abuse, inflicting serious injury.
On Tuesday, the Division of Child and Family Services contacted West Valley police about a 1-year-old boy possibly being abused at a home near 3300 South and 4300 West, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report. DCFS officials had received video that showed numerous injuries on the young boy, "including extensive bruising of both legs, bite marks on the upper thigh, and lacerations along the left leg and torso," the report states.
The homeowner told police that Kiamante Thomas is his second cousin and he, his wife and son had been living with him for the past six weeks since moving from Missouri, according to the report.
He told investigators that the young boy's shirt came up last week, and he "observed lacerations to his ribs that was outside of normal child discipline. (He) asked Abigail about the injuries and she explained that 'sometimes he gets a whooping,'" the report states.
When detectives found the family, they also "observed extensive injuries" to the young boy, according to the report.
The father told police he would hit the young boy "with a thin belt of his wife’s and an electrical cord," the report stated, because the boy "would scream at Abigail or break things." He did this every two or three days, the report states.
At the hospital, doctors found the young boy "had severe injuries (to) multiple areas on his body," including "numerous welts, abrasions, laceration to his legs, back and torso," the jail report states.
