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12/23/2024 07:16:43 pm

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Three-Year-Old Murdered By Own Father Over Potty Training; Father Nonchalant With Death?

Children of Colombians working in a farm that grows flowers for export take a group lesson in potty-training

(Photo : Reuters) Children of Colombians working in a farm that grows flowers for export take a group lesson in potty-training at a day care center located on the same farm in Chia February 8, 2007.

A man from Houston was charged with capital murder Tuesday after he beat his 3-year-old son to death for potty training failure, according to KHOU-TV.

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The father was identified as 24-year-old Anthony Trakemon Powell and his son is Tristan Powell. Anthony is also being charged of causing injury to Tristan's 2-year-old brother after Anthony scalded the boy with hot water.

According to prosecutors, Powell picked the boys up from their mother's house on Mother's Day. From Jasper where the boys' mother lived, Powell went to his sister's apartment in southeast Houston.

During their stay at the apartment, Powell had become upset that the boys wet themselves, thus he beat them using a belt.

"I'm tired of beating their ass and them not learning," Powell told 23-year-old Prosha Nicole Land, his sister, according court documents.

The beating happened last week, said Land. Powell hit the 3-year-old so hard that he got knocked down on the bathroom floor, hitting his head.

"She even described in the interview the sound that Tristan Powell's head made when his head hit the floor of the bathroom," according to prosecutor Connie Spence who described details of the incident during a bond hearing.

Tristan later complained of feeling sleepy and lightheaded, and the morning after the incident, the boy was found by Powell having breathing difficulties. Land called an ambulance to the apartment.

"The defendant's attitude was fairly nonchalant," Spence said. "In fact, according to witnesses, he was counting his money as he was riding to the hospital in the ambulance."

The boy was rushed by paramedics to Texas Children's Hospital. He was discovered to have had brain swelling as well as multiple fractures. He died the following day, according to Rapid News Network.

Tristan's 2-year old brother had been wrapped in a blanket when the family arrived at the hospital. They later found him seriously hurt after Powell scalded him with boiling water.

Land reportedly witnessed Powell's beatings to the two boys, but she did not stop him. She has been charged with two counts of injury to a child by omission, reported Gawker.

Powell will be sentenced to death if convicted. He is now under police custody with no bond.

The reason why the mother sent her sons to their father was so he could "get to know his son better," according to The Houston Chronicle.

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