An Orlando woman faces child abuse charges after using a stun gun to discipline her daughter according to the Huffington Post. Melissa Neale was reportedly seen by an unidentified witness on June 9 "touching a stun gun to the child's left knee" after the child allegedly "failed to make oatmeal properly."
The unidentified 10-year-old dropped to the floor in agony. No reports of the child being hospitalized have been made.
"When Melissa disciplines (the child) she will slap (the child) in the face, punch (the child) in the back of the head or will grab (the child) by the hair and pull (the child) around the room," a witness told the Daily Mail.
The Huffington Post reported Neale denied the allegations but according to the arrest affidavit, the child showed "visible marks on left knee cap and a bruise on the inside of the left calf."
"No matter where you're impacted, it's going to cause obviously a red mark, probably puncture wounds, or a burn mark on the skin," James Copenhaver, a former sheriff's deputy, said.
According to the Daily Mail, Neale was arrested at her job and released on a $2,500 bail. She has been charged with aggravated child abuse with a weapon. Both of Neale's children have been placed with relatives by the Department of Children. It is unclear if she has been denied access to her children since the arrest.
The witness opened her home to the 34-year-old mother of two and alerted the authorities after finding a note from the child that allegedly read that the child "didn't want to live anymore." The witness admitted that this was not the first time she brutally disciplined her children. The relationship between Neale and the witness is unknown.
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