One of two people charged with being involved in the abuse of a four-year-old female was sentenced to 40 years in prison during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.Twenty-Three-year-old Austin Brice Helms pled guilty to first degree battery. He was accused of hitting the little girl to the point that she had bruises in a number of places on her body. He was arrested and booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on July 25.
Twenty-five-year-old Ashlyn Shelton, mother of the child and reported to be Helm’s girlfriend, was arrested August 1 and booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on charges of permitting child abuse and 1st degree battery.
She entered a not guilty plea during Monday’s court session.
When the investigation began, Shelton is alleged to have told investigators the victim came into her bedroom crying, saying she had to go to the bathroom but couldn’t see.
The mother said she saw that her daughter’s eyes were swollen shut and her face and neck were red.
The victim was taken to Baxter Health and an examination showed she had bruising on her arms, back, hands, legs, bottom and feet. She was x-rayed and given a CT scan that proved negative for broken bones or internal injuries.
While at the local hospital, the victim was asked what had happened and she is reported to have said that “Austin hit me” and she made a fist and motioned toward her face.
At one point, she was asked about the bruising on her hands and replied that she “had broken Austin’s phone and he had hit her hands.”
The little girl was released from Baxter Health and initially placed in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services. She is now reported to be in the care of a relative.
When DHS contacted a physician at Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH), the doctor said she wanted the child brought to ACH and kept overnight for observation.
There is no information in the probable cause affidavit to indicate what conclusions were reached at ACH.
Two items found in the victim’s bedroom were brought to police – a green shirt with blood on it and wire fly swatter matching a mark on the child’s stomach. The items were found wedged between the mattress and the wall, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Shelton later said that marks on the child’s face resulted from a recent incident in which the little girl had torn down window blinds while climbing. Shelton said she had spanked her daughter.
When she was asked to recall when she had spanked the child prior to the “climbing incident,” Shelton said just a few days prior “but she could not remember” what had triggered the punishment.
Helms has previous convictions for aggravated robbery, theft of property, criminal use of prohibited weapons and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Bond for Shelton is set at $150,000.
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