Mother sentenced in brutal abuse of children
A St. Louis mother was given a lengthy sentence for abusing her children.
Lakechia Stanley, 34, will serve 78 years in prison after admitting to beating, whipping and waterboarding her three children.
Prosecutors said the horrific actions went far beyond child abuse and described it as "systematic torture" that not only left physical, but emotional scars on their three children.
The abuse came to light in 2011 when one of her children, who was 10 at the time, went to school complaining of pain in her arm. She was taken to a hospital where doctors determined her arm had been abused so badly that blood supply to the limb was restricted.
When investigators interviewed the children, they talked about being whipped with electrical cords, forced to take showers with scalding hot or freezing cold water.
During the sentencing, an attorney exclaimed, "[Lakechia] was supposed to be their mother, the one person they could trust. Instead she became a symbol of betrayal and fear, using every tool at her disposal to beat and torture her own innocent children."
Her husband, Andrew, was handed a 160-year sentence on related charges.
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