Houston Man Accused of Murdering 3-Year-Old Son Over Potty Accidents
On Tuesday, a Houston man was arraigned on capital murder charges after police say he beat his 3-year-old son to death as punishment for wetting himself, KHOU-TV reports.
According to authorities, 24-year-old Anthony Trakemon Powell was frustrated that the potty training of the victim and his 2-year-old brother was not progressing and would strike the children or scald them with water each time they had an accident.
“I’m tired of beating their ass and them not learning,” court documents quote Powell as saying to his sister, 23-year-old Prosha Nicole Land.
After one violent beating, the 3-year-old reportedly began acting strangely, repeatedly telling Land that “he was sleepy.” From KPRC-TV:
Around 5 a.m. on May 28, Powell woke his sister up and said his son was not breathing. Land went into the room and noticed her nephew was wheezing. She thought he was having an asthma attack and tried to administer a breathing treatment, then called 911 when he didn’t respond.
Paramedics rushed the boy to Texas Children’s Hospital where it was discovered that he was suffering from swelling of the brain and multiple fractures.
Land, who police say witnessed the beatings but did not stop them, has been charged with two counts of injury to a child by omission.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the victim’s mother sent her son to stay with Powell so he could “get to know his son better.”
