A 3-year-old girl is fighting for her life after she was allegedly beaten by her mother's boyfriend in Northumberland County.
Shamokin District Judge John Gembic tells Newswatch 16 the little girl now has just a 10% chance of survival. Her injuries were so severe that part of her brain had to be removed.
Jahrid Burgess, 19, is charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child, among other charges. If the child does not survive, Burgess will be charged with homicide.
Burgess has been charged with aggravated assault for beating the girl and her 23-year-old mother several times between July and October. The badly bruised child is in the hospital with a brain injury and broken ribs.
Court papers detail the disturbing allegations made by the child's mother, including Burgess kicking and punching the child and stomping on her stomach. The mother told police she believed her child's collarbone was broken because it was protruding.
The latest incident of alleged abuse--this past Thursday--ended with the child having seizures. That's when she was taken to the hospital although Burgess admitted to police he did not want the mother to call 911 initially.
Burgess is locked up in the Northumberland County jail. He did not make his $200,000 bail. Burgess told the district judge he was offended by the charges and he needs to be with his girlfriend and her child.
Mom’s boyfriend charged with severely beating girl
A 3-year-old girl is fighting for her life after she was allegedly beaten by her mother's boyfriend in Northumberland County.
www.abc15.com
Arabella Parker likes playgrounds, animals, kisses and hugs. But most of all, the 3-year-old loves ice cream.
Today however, she remains in critical condition at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville with a 10-percent chance of survival after state troopers said she was beaten so badly, surgeons were forced to remove a portion of her brain.
"She is a happy kid and a kid that loves to give hugs and kisses," Arabella's mother, Samantha Delcamp, said during an interview at The Daily Item on Sunday afternoon. "I want her to recover, and even if she can't ever speak again, I just want her with me."
Delcamp, who had been dating Burgess for the past four months, said she fears for her safety since Friday, when news of the arrest emerged.
"I have been threatened by people in the community and told I better not walk down the street or they will kill me," Delcamp said. "Everyone is saying I had something to do with this and I didn't. No one can understand what I am going through and no one understands that I did make reports, and I tried to get help to break us free from him.
Arabella is Delcamp's only child. Her father is currently incarcerated at SCI-Coal Township, and he has been informed of the situation, Delcamp's sister, Mandy Kegler, 32, of Sunbury, said.
"He is devastated about all of this," Kegler said, adding that she visited Arabella on Saturday and spoke with a doctor who told her that Arabella's brain has no activity and that the child is on life support.
"This whole situation is so, so sad, and I can't even believe this is happening to us," Kegler said. "I am just in shock."
Delcamp said the incidents of abuse started months ago when she met Burgess on social media. Delcamp said she eventually moved in with Burgess and two other people on Reagan Street in Sunbury until about a month ago, when Northumberland County Children and Youth Services paid a visit to the home.
"A caseworker came to check on Arabella, and she had brusies, but we were not home when the caseworker came," Delcamp said. "He (Burgess) didn't want us to be home so he made us drive around."
Delcamp said she called the caseworker back, and said she would drive herself down to the county building to meet with them.
"When we got there, they asked me a few questions, and I was scared to tell them anything," the child's mother said. "I had been warned not to open my mouth."
Things settled down after that, and she and Burgess moved to Trevorton in August.
"Everything was fine except for some minor things, but then it got bad when he started to tell me he didn't like how Arabella would make a sound when she breathed," Delcamp said. "He said to shut her up, because it would tweek him out."
On Oct. 10, Delcamp said, she arrived home, and that's when everything broke loose.
"He (Burgess) got mad," she said. "Arabella wasn't eating and he picked her up and slammed her off the wall. I screamed at him, and he then started to hit me."
From there Burgess continued to strike the child and eventually threw Arabella to the floor, Delcamp said. Troopers included statements similar to these in arrest documents.
"Arabella was on the floor having a seizure and I crawled next to her," Delcamp said. "I stayed with her until the ambulance arrived."
Delcamp said Burgess prevented her from calling 911 initially, but after a relative arrived, 911 was contacted.
"I was in the ambulance with Arabella and stayed with her until until the morning," Delcamp said.
Burgess also arrived at Geisinger. The next morning, he and Delcamp later returned to Trevorton.
"He told me that if Arabella didn't make it that would be OK because we could have a child," she said. "He also told me I better not blame him for what happened, and that if this was all to much, we could have a double suicide."
Delcamp said she went home and spoke with a county Children and Youth Services worker before state police troopers arrived and placed Burgess and her in handcuffs.
Delcamp said troopers released her from the handcuffs, and she spent the next eight hours being interviewed.
"I know I will take backlash for this, but I want my story told because I love my daughter and I want my daughter back with me," she said. "I know people think I had something to do with this and I didn't report this, so I am to blame, but I never thought this would happen, and I and Arabella were both very scared."
Delcamp said protective custody homes have reached out to her to offer assistance.
"If Arabella could talk to me right know she would look at me and smile," Delcamp said. "I just want to see her smile at me."
'I just want her with me,' mother of child beating victim says
DANVILLE — Arabella Parker likes playgrounds, animals, kisses and hugs. But most of all, the 3-year-old loves ice cream.
www.dailyitem.com
I have no words right now that are not just out right wrong.
I would prefer for this child to pass peacefully than be returned to this worthless cunt.
You are not the victim bitch your daughter is. She cannot be trusted to put the best interest of her daughter first.
I will leave it at that because I just might get banned tonight.
This is the baby beating bitch mom had to have.
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