A mother stood and observed her boyfriend as he beat her two-year-old kid violently because he had an accident while potty training.
A 32-year-old Candice Jones made a deal with the prosecutors last Thursday. She pleaded guilty to child negligence in exchange for jail time between three to 15 years.
She told the police that she was too scared of her boyfriend, John Powers, to stop him from beating her son Joseph Gaborsky III at her home.
She told the court how she saw her boyfriend beating her son with a belt and slammed him into the bathtub after Joseph ‘JoJo’ had an accident during potty training in August 2018. Powers first shook the body of a two-year-old boy then slammed the face on the floor with both hands on the throat and back of the head for three to five minutes.
For two weeks, Joseph was not able to receive any medical attention. Jones claims that she didn’t report to the police nor called the ambulance because Powers was threatening her, and she was afraid of him.
The couple was charged by a Mercer County Grand Jury in October 2018, on charges including the death of a child, child neglect resulting in death, child neglect creating a risk of injury or death, child abuse resulting in injury, and child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.
Powers was also charged with second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.
The case against the couple started on August 8, 2018, when they brought Joseph to the Bluefield Regional Medical Center for treatment – two weeks after the attack. He was transferred to a hospital in Charleston because of his severe injuries, where he died after two days on August 10 as he was suffering from numerous broken bones, retinal hemorrhages, brain bleeds, and blood clots.
Powers was the live-in boyfriend they met online a few months ago: then they moved in together into a mobile home in Mercer County.
According to the reports, Powers was previously jailed for 13 months in 1995 for beating a 2-year-old boy of his ex-girlfriend has entered a best-interest plea during a separate hearing last Thursday. The 47-year-old John Powers claimed he does not remember how he beat Jojo to death.
Candice Jones used to post several pictures of Jojo and her daughter and used to preach the importance of good parenting on the Facebook page. She wrote that she has two wonderful kids, she is separated, and kids are the most wonderful things in her life, in the ‘About’ section of her profile.
David Hart, Candice Jones’ father, showed his disappointment at his daughter’s sentencing, saying that she should be jailed for a long time, as she has failed to show any remorse for her action.
He said that he does not think that Candice realizes the gravity of what has happened. He said that he had lost his grandson, and she hasn’t shown any kind of remorse, and he thinks the sentencing is not right as she needs more time to know the severity of the crime she has committed.