(Memphis) A babysitter, accused of burning and whipping a toddler, is out of jail on a $50,000 bond. Ashley Tabron is facing aggravated child abuse charges for what police say wasn’t an accident. The child’s family is wondering why it took investigators nine months to charge her with burning and beating the child.
“Even now she doesn`t want to be in the bathroom by herself,” said Kiera Bradford, the child’s mother.
Two-Year-Old Madison Bradford’s feet tell a story about what happened to her.
“Her skin was completely off to the bone on her feet. You could smell her flesh,” said Kiera.
She spent a month in Le Bonheur, undergoing surgeries and physical therapy.
“So for 9 months you have been waiting for something to happen?” asked Reporter Sabrina Hall.
“Yes,” said Kiera.
“Did you know where she`s been?” asked Hall.
“No. She vanished. She moved. She changed her number,” said Kiera.
Keira Bradford, the toddler’s mother, says last April she allowed her daughter to be watched overnight by Tebron. Tebron was the girlfriend of the child’s uncle but the day the child was in her care, he broke up with her.
“They had an altercation and he left her and I believe that`s the reason why she did it because the baby was still there when he left,” said Kiera.
“So, she was angry at something else?” asked Hall
“At him.”
“She called us and said, ‘Hey, I accidentally ran Madison’s bath water too hot’,” said Candace Bradford, the child’s aunt.
“Then where do the bruises come from?” asked Hall.
“That was what we want to know,” said Candace. “We have been asking the same question as everybody else. Where do the whip bruises and the little black eye come from then?”
Candace, the child’s aunt, picked Madison up that day, “She was in pain when I got her in. When I got her, she fell right to sleep like she was at peace, like she had been tortured all night.”
Madison suffered first, second and third degree burns. Doctors said the injuries were no accident. After an investigation, police agree and they’ve charged Tebron with aggravated child abuse.
“I am very happy because anybody who would hurt a child doesn`t deserve to be out in society like that,” Candace.
“I really want to see what the outcome is and her serving her time,” said Kiera.
Tabron is expected in court Monday morning and Kiera says she plans to be there as well.
Police say Tabron claims she burned the child in the bathtub by accident but didn’t take her to the hospital that day because she didn’t have gas money for her car.
