A 9-year-old girl in West Virginia arrived at school with bruises on her face and claimed her parents beat her with a metal flyswatter, belt, and a wooden paddle with holes in it. Police said the parents routinely kept the girl in her room while they “went out to smoke.”
Lewis Nuzum II, 52, and Josephine Nuzum, 45, have both been charged with child abuse leading in injury and child neglect resulting in injury, according to court records obtained by Law&Crime following an investigation by the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office.
Charging records obtained by the local CBS affiliate WDTV detail the accusations against the pair, including remarks they reportedly made to explain their side of the story.
According to authorities, the Nuzums threatened to strike the youngster if she misbehaved. They both allegedly claimed that the youngster was beaten with their hands rather than objects, but the child informed school personnel that her parents used a silver and green metal flyswatter, a brown belt with a turquoise clasp, and a wooden paddle, according to WDTV.
Lewis Nuzum allegedly admitted to cops that he “beat the a— off her,” but only with his hand.
According to the criminal documents, Josephine Nuzum informed police that the girl “does this every year when school starts,” referring to the abuse claims.
The girl had bruises on her cheeks and eyelids that she said were caused by the flyswatter. She told officers she “cried really hard” after being hit, and her father tried to block her from going to school the next day, but she “wanted to go,” WDTV reports, citing charging records.
When police inquired about putting the girl in her room, the Nuzums allegedly stated they had “caught her calling 911 before” while they were out smoking. According to the pair, she did so by obtaining “a cellphone from their room.”
Police investigated the house and discovered what they claim was a wooden block with screws and a locking mechanism attached that lined up with holes in the girl’s bedroom door.
The Nuzums were detained and lodged into the Tygart Valley Regional Jail. According to court documents, bail was set at $100,000 for Lewis Nuzum and $50,000 for Josephine Nuzum. They were still behind bars on Monday.
