A Salt Lake grandmother and a friend have been charged in connection with the beating of a 2-year-old girl between March 28 and 30.
The 49-year-old woman had been given full custody of her granddaughter because both the child's parents are incarcerated. Charges filed Tuesday in 3rd District Court state the grandmother believed the girl was "stubborn" and took her to the Salt Lake home of a friend to be disciplined.
Court documents state that the man, 41, beat the child with his fist and a leather belt over the three-day period and during many of the beatings the girl's grandmother sat in the room and watched.
Two witnesses who visited the man's home on March 29 and 30 noticed the girl had multiple bruises and also heard beatings occurring in a back bedroom. One witness told the grandmother that the girl was going to collapse and could not take any more beating.
Court documents state that the grandmother told the witness that the child "bruised easily" and that she loved the girl too much to take her away from the man. The charges did not indicate the nature of the relationship between the man and the child.
The girl was later examined by Dr. Ron Furnival at Primary Children's Medical Center. Furnival said she had multiple bruises and scratches on her face, a split lip and other bruises all over her body. The girl also had a severe case of head lice, documents state.
Salt Lake police detective Mike Beesley later interviewed the man, who admitted he had beaten the child with a leather belt while her grandmother watched. The man supplied the belt to Beesley and the belt markings matched the child's bruises, the charges state.
Both the grandmother and the man were charged with three counts of child abuse, a second-degree felony. The grandmother was also charged with child abuse.
The man was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Friday with bail set at $500,000. The grandmother's bail was set at $250,000, but she is not currently incarcerated.