HOUSTON – A mother has been arrested and charged after authorities say she allowed her boyfriend to abuse her 3-year-old child.
Jasmine Salas has since been charged with injury to a child. She is currently being held on a $150,000 bond.
During her first court appearance, prosecutors detailed the allegations against the 3-year-old’s mother.
According to court documents, Salas’ allowed her boyfriend to abuse not only her 3-year-old child but also her 5-year-old child on several occasions without intervening or seeking medical help.
Officials said Salas witnessed multiple acts of abuse on her child without doing anything to stop and continued to place her children in the care and control of her boyfriend for multiple days at a time.
The 3-year-old has sustained serious injuries due to the abuse, including subdural hematoma, burns to the scalp, laceration to the liver, fractures of the ribs, bruised lungs, and fluid in the lungs. It’s not clear what injuries the 5-year-old sustained but a judge on Wednesday said the child was noticeably abused as well.
Emma Schieffer, the 3-year-old’s great aunt, told KPRC 2 that she found out on Friday night that the child was taken by Life Flight to a hospital and visited him the next day.
“It was heartbreaking,” she said. “You couldn’t help but cry at just seeing him with the neck brace on and the tubes in his head with just everything, and then they’re telling him what they’ve done with him.”
The family is now calling for justice, and praying the boy gets a second chance.
Schieffer said the 3-year-old will not be the same child ever again.
“I want them both to stay behind bars for the rest of their lives,” Schieffer said. “They don’t deserve to be out. They don’t deserve a life. Even if he comes out of this coma the chances with the amount of trauma that he’s had he will not be the same child. But I’m believing in a miracle and that we will have a smiling boy again.”
If released on bond, Salas must not have any contact with her child, specifically the 3-year-old, and not have contact with her boyfriend amongst other conditions. She is also ordered not to have contact with her 5-year-old child.
The identity of the boyfriend, who is not the children’s biological father, has not been released by the Houston Police Department.