Grandma’s hands were tied 6-year-old grandson behind and forced him to live in the barn after his school was closed due to a coronavirus.
Esmeralda Lira (53) allegedly forced his grandson to live in a dilapidated barn on site of her home in Dallas until the police caught her once on Sunday evening.
Officers reported the boy was living in the shed, but when they came to the woman’s home, the grandmother told police that the child is at home with his mother.
The real place where the boy lives, had disclosed after another man, who lived nearby, pointed him out to investigators. Police pulled the boy from the barn, freed his hands, which were tied behind his back and asked him about what happened. The boy confessed that he’s sleeping in the shed ever since, as in March, has closed his school «because of all these things related coronavirus».
Then, as reported, Lyra changed her story, saying that the child had been in the barn for one night only as punishment. Her boyfriend Jose Balderas (64) proposed a different version of events and told police that the boy was thrown in the shed for 2 weeks after he was caught stealing food.
The boy who had abused his 7-year-old sister and 4-year-old brother was taken from the house social services and placed in a temporary family, reports the news outlet KTVT. Try and Balderas charged with placing child in danger, which is a serious criminal offence.
Experts on child protection have warned that a long quarantine measures, imposed because of the pandemic coronavirus, put vulnerable children into more dangerous situation because during the period of school closures it became much harder to share with someone what happens to them. Social worker Marissa Gonzales, who works on the case, said, «We should all watch the kids in his neighborhood, especially now when they are not in school.»
