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Williamsburg couple accused of beating young children
Posted On 16 Jul 2009
A Williamsburg woman and her live in boyfriend are behind bars on child abuse charges stemming from injuries to the woman’s two children.
Williamsburg Public Affairs Officer Shawn Jackson said the case originated when his department got a call Thursday morning to assist social services in investigating an abuse complaint.
"They had received an anonymous call about a possible child abuse case the day before," Jackson said. "Upon officers arrival, the mother of the two children gave officers a little bit of static and didn’t want to be real cooperative at the time."
Police and social services determined through their investigation that it appeared the two brothers, who were three and five years old, were badly assaulted.
"It appeared that they had been hit in various locations of their body from their face to their back to their bottom," Jackson said.
"There were several marks and bruises on the face, back and bottoms of both children. It basically looked like the children appeared to have been hit repeatedly by the male subject."
Police charged the mother of the two boys, Rachelle J. Adkins, 28, and her live-in boyfriend, David T. Bunch, 30, both of Briar Creek Trailer Park, with two counts of first-degree criminal abuse under the age of 12. Bunch is not related to the two boys.
"Through the investigation, it was determined that the mother was aware of the so-called discipline that the live-in boyfriend was doing," Jackson said.
"She failed to report this to authorities, did not do anything to intervene during the assault, and did not report it to social services or law enforcement."
The children didn’t receive an emergency medical treatment, but were taken to a doctor to be evaluated.
Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird said that a forensic specialist in child abuse would also evaluate the case.
Jackson admits that cases of this nature are hard for both police and social services to deal with.
He said the case isn’t the worst case of abuse ever investigated by the department, but that it was a "very serious matter."
Bird noted that on a nearly daily basis police receive anonymous reports of child abuse and discover that the complaint wasn’t valid.
Often the person calling in the complaint is mad at the person they are allegedly reporting and trying to cause problems for them.
"This definitely was a legitimate case," Bird added.
Jackson said the case is being taken very seriously, the court system and social services.
Both suspects were arrested without incident and lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center.
Social services placed the children into the custody of a relative.
Sgt. Brad Boyd and social services are continuing the investigation, and were assisted by Bird and Lt. Jason Caddell.
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I’m sorry, but there is no excuse for letting this go. The mother could have made the boyfriend leave, or she could have taken the boys and left. She is just as guilty as the boyfriend. I have a brother in law who’s nephew was 2, and the same thing was going on, but the mother did nothing, with these silly excuses the 2 year old suffered for 2 weeks with a ruptured bowl and died a painful death before his birth father could get home from Iraq to see him. I think she needs to be punished to the fullest extent of the law for letting this happen and doing nothin to protect the priceless gifts that GOD has given her. I have 5 children and 6 grand children and I would do anything to protect them, including turning in a family member if I had to, no matter what kind of threats were given to me. We all need to stop making excuses for these kinds of people and stop this crazy stuff from going on, there are too many people who would love to have these children to let it continue the way it is.Those who stand behind excuses, don’t deserve to have children, It is a parents responsability to protect the children she is BLESSED with, and is to let no one cause harm or pain to them.
take in to consideration that this women could very well may have been in a situation that she was in fear and this may have caused her to not report the situation to social services. from my expieriance with my own daughter who was in a relationship with a man who only spanked my grand-daughter on her bottom, however this man made it very clear to my daughter that if anything was said to anyone, that he would cause bodily harm to her and members of her family. when i did find out we delt with it accordingly and this man now resides in the whitley county jail, and upon his release he the serves more time in laurel count jail. but take into consideration that maybe this women was cornered and ackted out of desperation, not everyone has someone in there corner to aid them. just a thought
thay should give them a good betening you no it is bad that the ones that would love to have kids cant and you see this and it makes you bad i would love be the one to do the betening thomas russell spring kentucky good day