Dad accused of severely beating 12-year-old son, putting spicy mustard on boy's wounds; is this a custodial dad? (Muncie, Indiana)

Is JUANIS ALI KIRKSEY a custodial father? Sure appears likely. Notice that Daddy was arrested on a THURSDAY afternoon, which suggests that he had custody of the kids during the week. Also notice that the kids were released to their mother, who lives in another town. At minimum, it seems that Dad had joint custody.

But check this out. Despite all the crap from the fathers' rights people about how poor daddies are discriminated against, note that Kirksey got his "rights" despite a suspended drivers license and a violent criminal history including domestic battery, strangulation, and criminal confinement. So it's no great surprise that he battered his kids. But of course he was allowed access anyway. Indiana has a huge reputation as a fathers' rights state. Meaning mothers and kids have virtually none. 

http://www.indystar.com/article/20121216/NEWS/121216002/Police-Man-put-spicy-mustard-12-year-old-son-s-wounds-after-beating-belt

Police: Man put spicy mustard on 12-year-old son's wounds after beating with belt

8:41 AM, Dec 16, 2012

Written by Douglas Walker
Muncie Star Press

MUNCIE — A Muncie father has been accused of severely beating his 12-year-old son with a belt, then putting spicy mustard on the boy’s resulting welts and scratches.

Juanis Ali Kirksey, 41, 401 E. Main St., was arrested Thursday afternoon on preliminary charges of battery resulting in serious bodily injury, neglect of a dependent and resisting law enforcement.

City police were called to Kirksey’s apartment about 5 p.m. Thursday after several neighbors reported they could hear a child being beaten.

Officer Brandon Qualls reported Kirksey at first tried to prevent him from entering the apartment, saying, “I just disciplined my child, (and) that’s not against the law.”

Officers reported finding two children, ages 12 and 9, inside who seemed “terrified.” The older child had welts and scratches on his right forearm, back, chest, hands, thighs and buttocks, according to a police report. Spicy mustard had also been spread on the boy’s right arm, apparently in a bid to increase the youth’s discomfort, “from his wrist up past his elbow.”

The children said Kirksey had beaten the boy after an argument that began when the youngster asked his father to turn down a television. The younger child said she was instructed, in a note written by her father, to go into a bathroom and put headphones on while the beating took place.

The boy was treated at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital before he and his sister were placed in the care of their mother, an Anderson resident.

Kirksey was being held without bond in the Delaware County jail on Friday.

The Muncie man was convicted of driving while suspended last July.

 He was charged with domestic battery, strangulation and criminal confinement in a Madison County court in 2008, but those counts were dismissed two years later.