Dad arrested for beating 5-year-old son (Jasper County, Texas)

Dad JOHN CLYDE CORNELIUS has been arrested for beating his 5-year-old son. The stepmother has also been arrested for failure to protect. Not a word on where mom is. Does Dad have custody? Does he have visitation? Is Mom deceased? Let's hear an explanation as to how this child ended up in this home.

http://www.kfdm.com/news/jasper-33591-beating-old.html

Father charged with beating 5-year-old son
August 17, 2009 12:21 PM
posted by; Scott Lawrence

JASPER COUNTY - by Mike Lout & Mike Love/KJAS - A five year old Jasper County boy is undergoing treatment for the injuries he received on Sunday evening in an alleged beating at his home.

Jasper County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Ralph Nichols said the incident occurred shortly before 7:00 at a travel trailer on County Road 348, just off of Farm to Market Road 252, about 6 miles south of Jasper.

Nichols said it is believed that the father of the child, 24 year old John Clyde Cornelius, not only beat the youngster, but also dragged him by hand, and the boy was so severely injured he was coughing up blood.

The injuries were reportedly discovered by the child’s biological grandmother, who took him to a Lufkin hospital where he was treated, before being transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston where he was last reported to be undergoing treatment in the facility’s intensive care unit.

Nichols said on Monday that it now appears that jealousy of attention on the child by his biological grandmother was the motivation for the beating.

Nichols said the stepmother, 27 year old Jessie Lillian Waddell, was also arrested. Nichols said the father was arrested in connection with the beating and the two women were arrested because they knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it.

All three appeared before Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Ronnie Billingsley for arraignment. John Clyde Cornelius was charged with injury to a child causing disabling bodily injury, his bond was set at $500,000.00. Jessie Lillian Waddell and her mother, Wanda Kay Macks were both charged with failure to report injury to a child, bond was set at $40,000.00 each. At last word, all three remained in the Jasper County Jail.

The family reportedly moved to Jasper County from Groveton about one year ago.
Four other children at the home, ranging in age from one to twelve years, were also taken to the Sheriff’s Department, where they were to stay until they could be turned over to Child Protective Services.