Boy, six, died ‘after father sexually assaulted him with a stick for eating cake’ on camping trip

Schoolboy, six, died of an infection ‘after his father sexually assaulted him with a stick as punishment for eating a piece of cake’ on Missouri camping trip

  • Mauricio Alejandro Torres is alleged to have attacked his son on a camping trip
  • Maurice ‘Isaiah’ Torres died in hospital after allegedly being assaulted with stick 
  • Prosecutors claim Torres sexually assaulted his son in Missouri as a punishment 
  • He was initially sentenced to death in 2016 but his conviction was overturned
  • Torres now faces a retrial for capital murder and battery and battery charges
  • Boy’s mother Cathy handed life sentence after pleading guilty to capital murder

A father is accused of killing his six-year-old son by sexually assaulting him with a stick on a camping trip as a punishment for eating a piece of cake without permission.

Mauricio Alejandro Torres is alleged to have attacked his son Maurice ‘Isaiah’ Torres, leaving the youngster with a bacterial infection. He died of septic shock the next day.

The 50-year-old was said to be camping with the boy in Missouri on March 28, 2015 and assaulted him for eating a piece of cake without permission, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. 

Mauricio Alejandro Torres, 50, has been charged with capital murder and battery after his son Maurice ‘Isaiah’ Torres died of septic shock

Maurice 'Isaiah' Torres died in hospital a day after allegedly being sexually assaulted with a sick on a camping trip in Missouri

Maurice ‘Isaiah’ Torres died in hospital a day after allegedly being sexually assaulted with a sick on a camping trip in Missouri

Maurice was taken to Bella Vista medical clinic near his home in Arkansas, but died the next day.

The boy was said to have been forced to exercise after the horrifying assault and his mother Cathy injured him further by pushing him to the ground.

She was handed a life sentence after pleading guilty to capital murder in March 2017.

Torres has been charged with capital murder and battery over the death of Maurice. He has pleaded not guilty. 

He was sentenced to death in November 2016 but his conviction was overturned last April because the alleged assault with a stick happened in Missouri and not Arkansas.

Capital murder offences that carry the death penalty must have taken place in the state where the prosecution is being brought, according to state law.

Torres now faces a retrial at Benton County Circuit Court in Arkansas on Thursday after his original convictions were overturned on this technicality.

He faces life imprisonment or death if convicted of the murder charge and from five to 20 years in jail if he is convicted of battery. 

Maurice's father has been charged with capital murder and battery over his death in 2015

Maurice’s father has been charged with capital murder and battery over his death in 2015

Torres was sentenced to death in November 2016 but his conviction was overturned last April because the alleged assault with a stick happened in Missouri and not Arkansas. He now faces a retrial

Torres was sentenced to death in November 2016 but his conviction was overturned last April because the alleged assault with a stick happened in Missouri and not Arkansas. He now faces a retrial 

His original trial heard testimony from a medical examiner who stated that Isaiah’s death was caused by a bacterial infection from being violated with the stick, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports. 

Prosecutors used allegations of other instances of child abuse committed by Torres in Arkansas as grounds for the retrial on the murder charge.

At the opening of the trial on Thursday, the prosecution set out the horrific details of the case.

Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith told jurors: ‘This is a story of abuse, torture, and murder of six-year-old Isaiah. 

‘He suffered chronic child abuse syndrome. The pictures you will see are ugly, grotesque.’ 

Smith alleged Isaiah had been abused for two years before his death and in March 2015, when he was ‘inflicted a death blow’, he added.

During the first trial it emerged Arkansas’ Department of Human Services investigated allegations of child abuse against Torres and his wife twice, a year before the death of their son. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk