A North Carolina mother her and her boyfriend are facing criminal charges for alleged abuse of her two young children which reportedly entailed smothering them with pillows, shooting them with a BB gun, and covering their bodies with hot sauce and hot peppers as punishment.

The Charlotte Observer reported Sabrina Irene Emerick, 25, and Robert Earl Kailiala Saladaga, 37, were arrested for the torture of Emerick’s 5- and 7-year-old sons, which police alleged dates back to September 2017. While police identified Saladaga as the aggressor, they wrote that the boys’ mother “was aware of the ongoing abuse and allowed her children to be placed at [an] unreasonable risk of harm.”

Authorities alleged that Saladaga pressed a pillow over the 5-year-old’s face until he couldn’t breathe in addition to shooting one of them in the foot with a BB gun and rubbing hot sauce “all over the victim’s face, eyes, and mouth, causing him to vomit.

According to the news station, Saladaga punished one of the children by beating him and all over his body and forcing him take hot and cold showers. Police also alleged an instance where Saladaga rubbed a hot pepper on the boy’s genitals for urinating on a couch.

The Greenville News reported that law enforcement began investigating the couple in March 2018, after receiving information from the Department of Social Services.

Emerick and Saladaga were charged with child neglect and two counts of cruelty to children, with Saladaga also being charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. Emerick and Saladaga were released from jail on February 15 after posing $10,000 and $25,000 bond, respectively.

The Greenville News reported that the children are in the care of a relative; Saladaga is required to wear electronic monitoring and is barred from having contact with the children.

[Featured image: Sabrina Irene Emerick, Robert Earl Kailiala Saladaga/Grenville Police Department]