Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the name of the defendant and charging information.
A 2-year-old Kent girl was taken Saturday to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment of severe beatings she suffered while she was being toilet trained, according to the Renton Police Department.
The child’s prognosis for recovery is unknown, according to Penny Bartley, a spokeswoman for the Renton Police Department.
“She will have permanent, life-long injuries as a result of this abuse,” said Bartley.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday filed a charge of first-degree assault of a child against Idris Turner. Turner, 30, is accused of repeatedly beating his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter in Renton.
He is in jail on $150,000 bail. He is scheduled for arraignment Dec. 17 at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent. If convicted as charged, the standard sentence range is 93 to 123 months in prison. However, the case could be reviewed for consideration of an exceptional sentence above the standard range.
Turner was arrested Sunday.
Officers were called to the emergency room at Valley Medical Center on Saturday about an unresponsive child suffering from injuries consistent with abuse, according to Bartley.
The child’s mother, 21, of Kent had given birth to a girl on Nov. 19 and asked the suspect, the father of the newborn, to care for her 2-year-old daughter while she was on bed rest.
The suspect is not the father of the victim. He told officers he bad been watching the girl for about a month, but because of his busy schedule, he usually asked his “associates” to care for her, according to the police report.
The suspect brought the child to the mother’s apartment in Kent on Saturday. The mother expressed concern because her daughter “wasn’t normal” and she and the suspect then brought the child to Valley Medical Center.
The child was transported to Harborview Medical Center for intensive care and her parents left, after officers had to physically intervene to keep the suspect away from the child’s mother.
However, through further investigation, detectives developed probable cause to arrest the man. Witnesses told officers the suspect had beaten the child. The man apparently was living at a number of residences in Renton with a number of women, according to police.
Late Sunday, the suspect, the victim’s mother and the 11-day-old, half-sister caught the eye of a Port of Seattle Police Department officer at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, according to Bartley.
The officer learned through a computer check that there was probable cause to arrest the man.
The child’s mother does not appear to be involved in the abuse, according to Bartley, and is not facing any charges at this time.
The 11-day-old was taken into protective custody and turned over to Child Protective Services, according to Bartley.
Contact Dean A. Radford at 425-255-3484, Ext. 5050.
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