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http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ao/20000710/cr/parents_charged_ in_sledgehammer_torture_1.html
WARNING VIOLENCE.
Parents Charged in Sledgehammer Torture SWEETWATER, Fla. (APBnews.com) -- For nearly six months, a 12-year-old mentally handicapped boy was repeatedly tortured, authorities said.
He was stripped naked, gagged and bound, and left for hours in the bathroom. He was whipped with extensions cords and caned with the handle of a bathroom plunger. His fingers were beaten with metal spoons until his fingernails fell off, and 12-pound sledgehammers were dropped on his feet until they were so swollen he could barely walk, authorities said.
And the worst part of it all was that his tormentors were also his parents, authorities said.
Now, 37-year-old Ricardo Jose Davilla of Sweetwater and his 44-year-old wife, Yoseppa, are being held without bail, charged with eight counts of aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment, police said.
Boy fled to neighbors
Authorities said they learned about the case early Sunday when the boy finally fled to a neighbor's house and begged that they summon police.
Police questioned his parents, who admitted they had beaten and psychologically abused the mentally impaired youngster regularly since February, authorities said.
The beatings and torture occurred, police now say, whenever the boy told his parents a fib.
Among other things, the couple admitted they would whip the child with extension cords, and that they used a plunger stick on his back, leaving large welts, police said.
On at least one occasion, the couple allegedly dropped 12- pound sledgehammers on the boy's feet. When police talked to the boy, he no longer had fingernails or toenails, police said.
Psychological abuse charged
In addition, authorities said, the father allegedly tortured the boy psychologically, stripping off his clothes, tying his hands behind his back, gagging him and leaving him in a darkened bathroom with a 5-gallon pail covering his head so that he would be completely isolated.
The boy remained in a Miami-area hospital today, where he is being treated for his injuries.
In the meantime, the couple's two other children have been placed in the care of Florida's children's services agency.
So far, authorities say, there is no indication that the two other children were injured, but the investigation is continuing.
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