A Georgia man has been accused of forcing his stepdaughter, 13, to eat cat food and drink detergent in what authorities are calling the worst case of child abuse they’d ever seen.
Rimmon H. Lewis, 33, and Angela Strothers, 33, the victim’s mother, have been charged with multiple counts of child cruelty after the years of horrific abuse was uncovered.
Police heard that the girl had been beaten, forced to take scalding hot baths and locked in the laundry room. She was also forced to eat cat food and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or pick the scraps off her her siblings and parents’ plates once they had finished eating.
Rimmon H. Lewis, 33, (pictured) has been accused of forcing his stepdaughter, 13, to eat cat food and drink detergent in what authorities are calling the worst case of child abuse they’d ever seen
On one occasion, the teen was made to drink detergent, according to the indictment.
Lewis, who was on probation after being charged with abusing the same girl in 2014, would also punish his stepdaughter for having a stutter by forcing his thumbs in her mouth and stretching the corners until they ripped and bled, causing scars, legal documents state.
It’s not clear whether the authorities were monitoring his contact with his stepdaughter after his previous arrest.
‘It’s amazing to me how this child survived as long as she did,’ Assistant District Attorney Tracy Cason, the prosecutor on the case, told Channel 2.
The authorities were first alerted in March after counselors at the girl’s school noticed she was covered in bruises.
One police started investigating, they say they uncovered a long history of alleged abuse.
Angela Strothers, 33, the victim’s mother, has also been charged with multiple counts of child cruelty after the years of horrific abuse was uncovered
The victim was regularly locked in a laundry room in the family’s Gwinnett County home, where she was not allowed to use the bathroom and forced to urinate on herself. She would then be sent to school wearing her urine soaked clothes, according to the indictment.
She would also be forced to complete ‘standards’ – bizarre tasks such as standing on cans of food while writing sentences and phrases 1,000 times in a row, including statements like ‘I will respect my father,’ Channel 2 reported.
The 13-year-old would also be forced to squat against a door with her head under the doorknob, and if she moved before Lewis allowed her to, he would beat her with a wooden table leg, authorities say.
She would not be allowed to eat if she hadn’t completed her standards for the day.
The indictment states that Lewis beat his stepdaughter with a belt and the table leg, punched her in the head and stomach, and kicked her in the vaginal area.
He is also accused of forcing the victim to take scolding hot or freezing cold baths.
On one occasion, in March, Strothers found her daughter sleeping on the couch without Lewis’ permission so did as he instructed and threw her out the house, the indictment says.
The victim was regularly locked in a laundry room in the family’s Gwinnett County home (pictured) where she was not allowed to use the bathroom and forced to urinate on herself
Lewis and Strothers were arrested in April. Lewis is charged with 15 counts of first-degree cruelty to children, four counts of aggravated battery and one count of aggravated stalking. He is also charged with for violating his probation.
Strothers has also been charged with stalking and four counts of child abuse.
The stalking charge stems from June when Strothers allegedly gave the victim new clothes and a message from Lewis, apologizing and promising never to hurt her again.
Lewis, who was sentenced to 12 months in prison and 10 years probation in 2014, for his previous arrest for child abuse involving his stepdaughter, has been jailed for five years for violating his probation.
Strothers has been released on bond.
Her daughter, and her other children, have been seized by the Georgia Department of Family and Child Services.