Top > World > 2006 > January > 2006-01-08

Scalded Son Mom Was Repeat Abuser

Records show that a Florida mother who is accused of killling her 3-year-old son with scalding water was suspected of being a serial abuser. Child Net, a private agency supervising state child placements in Broward County, investigated Valerie Love Kennedy at least six times since 1997 on allegations of abuse.

A court ruled that Kennedy should have no contact with Jaquez who was placed with his grandmother, Annie Love Williams. Kennedy has been charged with murder and Williams with aggravated manslaughter. Williams had also been accused of abuse before Jaquez` death. In 2003, a caller to an abuse hotline said that Williams did not help a child who had a string tied so tightly around her finger that it had to be amputated, reports ChildNet.

Sheriff`s officials said that the boy "probably would have survived" had Kennedy taken him to the hospital, according to preliminary reports from medical examiners. On Christmas Day, Kennedy scalded her son Jaquez Mason as punishment for soiling his diaper, resulting in third-degree burns. She did not get the boy medical care and kept him at home until he died on New Year`s Day.