Parents of a 6-year-old boy told Gwinnett County police that beating and leaving children indoors alone for hours is normal in Ethiopia.
Etsegenet Tekletsio and her child’s father, Belayneh Ogato, are charged with child cruelty, according to an arrest warrant.
“Actually, both parents according to the investigators were not that concerned about it,” Capt. Thom Bardugan told Channel 2 Action News. “They said in Ethiopia that is considered common practice for disciplining a child.”
A neighbor called police last week after the boy was found wandering alone on Stoneview Trail in Lilburn, Channel 2 reported.
The boy told police his parents weren’t home and he was hungry, Bardugan told the news station.
He had been left alone at least five hours while the parents went to work, the warrant states.
When officers noticed welts and bruises on the boy’s legs, they arrested the parents. They have since bonded out of jail.
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