HUMBLE, Texas — Three people are facing charges after authorities said they beat, restrained and refused to feed a 2-year-old girl who was living with them for a few months last year.
Kenry Flukers, 23, Toniesha Deshae Perkins, 27, and Mya Jhari Breaux-McGruder, 17, are each charged with injury to a child and unlawful restraint to a child under the age of 17.
According to court documents, the investigation began when two maintenance workers got a work order to repair the dishwasher in the unit where the three defendants lived with the victim and two other children.
While they were making the repairs, according to court documents, the workers saw the 2-year-old victim lying on the living room floor covered by a blanket. They said the child started to cry and looked over and saw that her legs were taped together. They took a photo and video, left the apartment, and then called the police for a welfare check.
When a CPS caseworker asked Perkins about the photo of the child taped up, she blamed it on her other kids and said they tie each other up sometimes.
When the victim was examined by doctors, they diagnosed the girl with bilateral subdural hemorrhages, acute kidney injury, anemia, subconjunctival hemorrhages, retinal hemorrhages and malnourishment. She also had a bradycardiac arrest for which CPR was required, according to court documents. The doctors said the child's injuries showed signs of physical abuse, psychological abuse and neglect. The doctors said the 2-year-old girl's weight would have been considered normal for a 1-year-old. One of the doctors said the child could have died if she wasn't brought to the hospital when she was.
During an interview with Houston police, Flukers told investigators that he and Perkins were dating at the time. He said the victim had been living with them for a few months before the abuse was discovered. He said he wasn't responsible for the child's abuse and neglect and instead blamed it on Perkins and Breaux-McGruder.
According to court records, Breaux-McGruder is the victim's aunt and had been living with Flukers and Perkins for about the same amount of time as the child. She told investigators that she slept on the living room floor with the victim. Investigators also found out that Breaux-McGruder didn't go to school for over a month while she was staying at the apartment.
Flukers and Perkins also have 6-year-old twins who told investigators that Breaux-McGruder would beat the victim when she would take the tape off her arms, legs and mouth. The twins also told investigators that they don't play with tape and their parents would tape and hit the victim over food and sucking her thumb.
A judge set Perkins and Flukers' bond at $150,000. Breaux-McGruder was due in court on Thursday night. The judge stressed that if the child didn't get medical care when she did, she could have died.