Girl, 10, ‘tortured and starved so horrifically she looked like “Auschwitz prisoner” after months of abuse by couple’
By Mark Hodge - The Sun (US edition)
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A LITTLE girl was beaten and starved so badly by her own dad and his partner she looked like an “Auschwitz” prisoner, authorities said.
Father Billy James Menees, 27, and Ashley Schardein, 24, are facing multiple charges related to allegations of horrific child abuse, Oklahoma prosecutors said.
It is alleged the suspects battered and starved Menees' 10-year-old daughter, who has not been named for legal reasons, for at least one month, McAlester News-Capital reports.
Police began probing the couple when a tipster noticed bruises on the child and contacted the Oklahoma Department of Health Services.
A relative also contacted DHS twice to report the alleged child abuse, it has been reported.
It is alleged in court docs that the couple punished the little girl “with emotional and verbal abuse, physical abuse, including spanking, tying her hands and feet for long periods of time...”
The suspects also allegedly shaved the child's head and at times stopped her from using the toilet.
They also forced her to sleep on concrete in a cold room with no pillow or blanket, the documents allege.
Prosecutors claim the girl survived on a diet of oatmeal and spinach while the couple would also make her “stand up for painfully long periods of time during the day, sometimes in wet clothing under a cold fan.”
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According to local news reporter Lori Fullbright, who read the arrest affidavit, Schardein would eat in front of the starving girl as she cried in hunger.
Several other kids who lived in the Oklahoma home were removed and placed into the care of DHS when the couple were arrested.
Assistant DA Michon Hastings-Hughes said: “It’s about a little girl who was not just abused once or twice.
“But has been beaten to a pulp for at least a month, if not more. She was tortured and made to look like she just got out of Auschwitz.”
The suspects were both released on a $100,000 bond yesterday after their lawyer argued they were not a threat to the public.
Schardein, who is seven months pregnant, was taken to hospital after the bond hearing after going into labor, her lawyer said.
The couple, who will not wear a GPS monitoring device while they await trial, have both been charged with child abuse by torture, along with kidnapping and four other counts of child abuse.
