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The U.S. has the highest rate of child abuse in the Western world: about three times that of Canada and 11 times that of Italy.
Nicholas Kernechel, a 27-year-old man from East Greenville, Pennsylvania will now face charges of child abuse for beating a four-year-old boy, pulling out three teeth with his bare hands, and leaving the child bleeding and crying alone until his mother came back home the next morning.
Last summer, Kernechel was asked by his girlfriend and the boy’s mother to look after the child until she returns home. For some reason the man got infuriated with the boy and started assaulting him. The 4-year-old was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Kernechel now also faces aggravated assault charges, Pennsylvania officials announced on Monday. Additionally, prosecutors also plan to charge him with endangering the welfare of a child.
Upper Perkiomen police officers recall that they first saw the child in July when his mother brought him to their office. The boy had severe injuries on his face and in mouth. Three of his teeth were missing, and the mother showed the police officers a plastic bag with the teeth.
According to an official report, the kid’s teeth had stains of blood on them but they were ‘intact.’ You could also see the root. The child’s mother said that her boyfriend baby-sat the child by himself that evening when the assault occurred. She was visibly upset when she detailed what must have happened, police officers noted.
The boy was taken to a specialist who concluded that the boy’s teeth were indeed pulled out of his mouth. According to the police report, after the attack the man left the boy in bed crying and bleeding and failed to call on his girlfriend to tell her to return home.
The next morning, the mother found her child sleeping on the floor with his mouth covered in dried blood, the police said. The child told the police that the man pulled out his teeth.
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s office reported that the case is by far one of the ‘most horrific’ cases of child abuse the office has seen in a long time. Authorities were horrified especially about how the man extracted the autistic child’s teeth and left him bleeding overnight until his mother returned home.
Kernechel’s lawyer told reporters Monday that the child’s lost teeth were an ‘unfortunate incident.’ According to the lawyer, the man helped the boy get to the bathroom, but the child slipped and hit his head on a table near his bed and the floor. Kernechel plans to plead not guilty.
Image Source: Medicalland.gr
