A Metairie mother and boyfriend have been booked with cruelty to a juvenile.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office says charges stem from alleged beatings at the hands of the mother’s boyfriend.
WGNO News Reporter Darian Trotter spoke to the neighbor who dialed 911 when the 8-year old girl ran for help.
“I cannot understand how a person can do that to a child,” neighbor Sabrina Ficaro said.
Sabrina Ficaro didn’t want to show her face, but she didn’t mind sharing firsthand accounts, of the terror she witnessed Wednesday in the eyes of the little girl next door.
She says the 8-year old, came over with a heart-wrenching story, about being beaten by her mother’s boyfriend.
Ficaro says there was physical evidence to back it up.
“She had everything, I mean bruises and scratches on her face, on her arms, a busted lip; bruises on her ears,” Ficaro said. “Just everywhere you can see she had bruises.”
“That’s insane,” neighbor Tim Hanzo said.
Tim Hanzo didn’t see the bruises, but heard about them. He’s outraged.
Trotter asked, “What would you have done? Me? I would have stopped him; I would have stopped him big time,” Hanzo replied.
The little girl escaped, but said her mother was still being attacked, inside the couple’s duplex; located in the 32-hundred block of 46th Street in Metairie.
Ficaro dialed 911.
When deputies arrived they arrested 32-year old Jeffery Kroper and charged him with cruelty to a juvenile.
They also slapped the girl’s mother, Angelique Shafer, with the same charge; because investigators say abuse to the child had been on-going and was never reported.
“As a mother I think it’s unforgivable,” Ficaro said. “Your most important job is to protect your children.”
“You gotta look at both ends, maybe he beat her up so much also that she was petrified,” Hanzo said.
Late Friday, Kroper and Shafer were still in the Parish jail; as the little girl struggles to heal both physically and mentally.
“I just hope she’s somewhere where she feels safe,” Ficaro said.
Sheriff’s deputies turned the little girl over to a relative.
Her one-month old brother, who investigators say also had bruises, was place in foster care.