Five members of a family who allegedly chained up and caged a naked boy with special needs inside a dog kennel have been jailed.
Vickie Seale Higginbotham, 58, and her daughter Danielle Martin, 32, were jailed for 20 years after pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse of the 13-year-old.
The boy, who was the son of Martin, was "treated like a dog by his mother" while Higginbotham was the "ringleader" of abuse of her grandson, prosecutor Josh Cochrane said in court yeterday.
The teen's stepfather and two uncles were also jailed in the case.
The abuse came to light two years ago when police received an anonymous tip about a child being bound by chains and padlocks inside a home in Autaugo County, in Alabama.
When they went to investigate, they discovered the then-11-year-old boy “naked and his ankles were chained to the stairs of a split-level hours,” WSFA reported .
When police asked Martin why he was chained up, she allegedly told them “because we don’t believe in butt whoopings.”
Two other children were found at the property and they told police that when the 13-year-old got in trouble, he was chained and the adults were “very mean” to him.
The three adults who were also in the house initially denied being involved, but Higginbotham later admitted to chaining him up, telling police she didn't know else to punish him.
According to the boy's siblings, who were also found to be malnourished, he was made to sleep in a dog kennel and his feet were chained up because they didn't fit inside the kneel.
When he was rescued, the court heard how he was “extremely excited we were there, and that the chains were off", investigator Steven Geon said.
