Grandma’s Punishment For 4-Year-Old Granddaughter Who Urinated On Couch Lands Her 12-Year Prison Sentence
An Indiana grandmother was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to scalding her four-year-old granddaughter in the shower after she urinated on a couch.
50-year-old Gretta Feil of Lebanon, Indiana, was also sentenced to four years’ probation on two felony counts of aggravated battery for what Boone County prosecutors described as “horrific abuse” she inflicted on the youngster who was staying with her in April.
In a statement, Special Victim’s Prosecutor Heidi Jennings said: “Her physical scars are healing, and we hope that this sentence today helps the healing process for her emotional scars. The evidence suggested Gretta Feil’s abuse of this child was beginning to escalate.”
Feil was looking after the girl and her brother after she’d picked them up from her son’s Alabama home. She was arrested later in the month after child welfare workers noticed third-degree burns on the child’s face, scalp, and genitals.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the girl told her mother that she’d been burned in the shower, while other relatives told investigators that Feil had struck the girl with a wooden spoon before taking her into the bathroom.
According to investigators, Feil put the girl in the shower for the “wetting accident” on the couch or cutting a piece of furniture. The shower temperature in the shower reached 132 degrees in 15 seconds and went up to 137 degrees after 30 seconds, according to the affidavit.
According to investigators who examined the girl, the abuse would have led to the girl’s death if it had not been stopped early.
Jennings stated that the girl was back in Alabama, and that “She’s doing good now. Her parents are very supportive of her, very supportive of the prosecution and we touch base with them quite frequently. She’s healing.”
Feil had claimed that the girl had been burned after she got into “her cream and lotions” in the apartment, but investigators concluded that the girl’s injuries were not accidental and that they could’ve been caused by scalding water. The girl is expected to have permanent scarring because of the injuries.
Feil’s 16-year sentence is the maximum for a Level 3 felony, according to prosecutors. Child welfare workers were alerted of the possibility that a child was being abused while in Feil’s care, leading to the arrest.
“We are thankful to every person who intervened and saved this child’s life, especially the neighbors who did not ignore the child’s cries of distress. They did what we need all persons to do – SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING,” Jennings said in a statement.
