A Texas mother is accused of physically and mentally torturing her sons, including denying them food and whipping them with cables, KPRC-TV reports.
Prosecutors have charged 53-year-old Annette Bogany with two counts of injury to a child as well as two counts of causing serious mental injury to a child. Houston police rescued the children, who are 14 and 10, after they escaped their home in July. The boys now live with relatives, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
The mental impact of the abuse on the victims allowed prosecutors to seek more serious felony charges.
“We must protect children,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “The evidence shows that these boys were physically and mentally tortured by the person they should have been able to trust the most.”
Court records allege that the boys were physically thin because of food deprivation and that they had significant scarring on their skin, which is indicative of long-term abuse. The victims said they were beaten for eating. Their mother would also allegedly eat food in front of them even though they were forced to go hungry.
The older victim told police one time he was beaten after he got a snack without his mother’s permission. In another beating, the same victim alleges that he was left with blood dripping from his head. The older boy said he would shield his younger brother from whippings by jumping in front of him.
Both boys ran away from their home and took some possessions in a pillowcase, including a computer cable that their mother had used on them, according to the district attorney’s office.
“Child abuse is a huge problem and we take it very seriously,” Assistant District Attorney Lacy Johnson said. “We are following the evidence and will hold these abusers accountable.”
Bogany has admitted that she hit her sons with different objects when she was angry at them, court records show.
[Feature Photo: Annette Bogany/Houston Police Department]
