BSO: Mother Beat Child With Bat For Tasting Cake Frosting
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TAMARAC (CBSMiami) -- A 43-year-old Tamarac mother is charged with beating her 7-year-old son with an aluminum baseball bat because he ate cake frosting without permission.
The Broward Sheriffs Office says the child has severe injuries to his buttocks.
The mother, Tricia Banner, was ordered by a judge in bond court to not go within 500 feet of her son and have no contact with him whatsoever, and that includes through e-mail or social media. She was held on $5,000 bond and broke down in court during questioning.
The judge found probable cause for the charges against her. When she was asked if she had been arrested before and had any "priors," she wept and said "I don't." When she was asked if there was anyone in the area, including friends, who could help, she cried again and said, "No, sir."
Banner, who lives in a Tamarac apartment complex, is charged with Aggravated Child Abuse. An arrest report said the child was stuck while lying in a horizontal position.
BSO spokeswoman Joy Oglesby said she was concerned by the charges.
"What was described to us by detectives is that the child tried to taste frosting on a cake and was struck for doing a simple juvenile act," Oglesby told CBS4's Peter D'Oench. "He was hit multiple times with an aluminum bat."
"There is no reason why a child deserves a severe beating like that," she said. "There was nothing that child could have done or could not do to deserve such a beating. It was severe."
Oglesby said, "It was very disturbing and very concerning. Here we are a few days away from Christmas and we have to deal with something so sad. Who among us has not swiped some frosting from a cake?"