‘House of horrors’: NJ woman admits to burning 3-year-old boy with boiling water for urinating on floor – Asbury Park Press
Here’s how to recognize child abuse and what to do if you suspect a child is being abused. Wochit, Louisville Courier Journal
NEWARK – A Newark woman has admitted to scalding her roommate’s 3-year-old son for urinating on the floor of the home they shared, according to a report.
Patricia Buchan, 29, said in court that she instructed the child to take off his clothes and get in a bathtub. She then took a pot of boiling water off of the stove and poured it over his lower body, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
The child reportedly suffered second-degree burns. Newark public preschool officials allegedly alerted police regarding the abuse.
Police reportedly launched an investigation and Buchan and the five other adults that lived together were subsequently arrested on Dec. 12.
Bridget Buchan, 24, Mary Buchan, 56, Patricia Gamarra, 63, Homer Searcy, 40, and the mother of the 3-year-old boy, Natacha Smith, 44, have been indicted on aggravated assault and child endangerment charges, prosecutors said.
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“This child lived his first three years in a house of horrors,’’ Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Morris said in a statement Oct. 18. “Today’s plea resolves the case without the ordeal of the children having to testify.”
The alleged incident occurred on Dec. 4, 2018. At the time of her arrest, Buchan had four children of her own, ages 1 to 7, and was pregnant with her fifth, according to a report.
All six children who were living in the shared residence have been removed from it, according to authorities.
Buchan is scheduled to be sentenced in Superior Court on Dec. 6, according to authorities. She reportedly faces up to five years in prison.
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