Wednesday, December 30, 2009

"Christmas Boy" released from hospital; boy beaten by dad's GF during visitation (Cottonwood, California)

So daddies just can't get visitation, huh? Then why did these two people got to "visit" with this 7-year-old child? Daddy JAVIER IBARRA LOPEX, who's going to prison for failing to appear on an "unrelated" felony assault charge, and his psycho girlfriend, who apparently didn't like the boy's mom, so she nearly beat the child to death. And why is Dad not being held accountable for psycho girlfriend's actions? Moms are blamed all the time ("failure to protect") for the actions of their husbands and boyfriends.

And maybe I'm missing something, but why is this child going into foster care if Mom had nothing to do with the injuries? How can you be blamed when you weren't even there? Oh right, it's always Mom's fault, even when it's not.

http://www.redding.com/news/2009/dec/30/christmas-boy-released-from-hospital-into-foster/

'Christmas Boy' released from hospital into foster care
By Jim Schultz
Posted December 30, 2009 at midnight

A 7-year-old Cottonwood boy who nearly died from injuries allegedly suffered in a beating by his father's girlfriend, has been released from UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and placed into foster care, a Shasta County Sheriff's Office sergeant said Tuesday.

Sgt. Lisa Shearman confirmed that the child, nicknamed Junior by his family, has been discharged from the hospital and placed into foster care, but said she could not provide any further details.

She referred all other questions to Detective Billy Cobb, who could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, the boy's father, Javier Ibarra Lopez, 29, has been sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty last week to failure to appear in court on a felony assault charge that was unconnected with the boy's alleged beating.

Lopez had been tentatively scheduled for a preliminary hearing on that charge Tuesday, but that hearing was canceled after he pleaded guilty on Dec. 23 and was immediately sentenced to prison, according to Superior Court records.

Lopez was never arrested or charged with any crime in connection with his son's alleged beating.
Nicknamed "The Christmas Boy" by two Shasta County women who established a fund for him, Junior had been hospitalized since deputies took him from his home on Dec. 11.

Rachel Limon, Lopez' girlfriend, told sheriff's investigators that she had beaten the boy as an act of revenge against the child's biological mother.

Limon, 27, remains in custody in Shasta County jail on charges of attempted murder, torture, aggravated mayhem, child abuse and four related enhancements. Her bail is set at $1.5 million.

Limon's 22-year-old brother, Gregory Matthew Limon, who is accused of child abuse, being an accessory and obstructing or delaying an officer, is due to be arraigned on Jan. 29.

Both were arrested on Dec. 11 when sheriff's deputies went to their Rhonda Road residence after receiving an anonymous call saying there was a severely abused child there.

Gregory Limon refused to let officers into the home, saying the boy wasn't there, although deputies entered the residence anyway and found the injured boy in a bedroom, Shearman has said.

It's believed the boy would have died within 24-hours without medical treatment, a Shasta County sheriff's investigative report says.

That report, which was released earlier this month, shows that the boy suffered six broken ribs, a collapsed lung and other injuries in the alleged assault.

"Rachel admitted to punching the victim over the course of approximately a week for various reasons," the report said. "The main reason for the abuse was out of revenge due to problems between Rachel and (Melissa) Radford."

Radford, 27, is the boy's biological mother.

The sheriff's report said that Limon, too, has a child with Lopez, which is a source of tension.

Rachel Limon is facing several life sentences if convicted and Gregory Limon faces about six years, eight months in prison if convicted, Senior Deputy District Attorney Ben Hanna said.