An Oklahoma man is facing criminal charges after he allegedly punished his girlfriend's son for opening his Christmas presents early, police said.
Bridgette Payne took to Facebook and posted now-removed images of her 5-year-old son, Ayrian, after Wesley McCollum, 25, allegedly beat him, KFOR reported
“Words cannot explain seeing your baby like this and having no clue what happened,” she wrote. “I ran to him like any mother would do crying, hugging, beggin (sic) what happened. ‘Wesley hurt me bad mama,’ is all he kept saying.”
According to Payne, she left Ayrian and her other children with McCollum on Dec. 16 in order to finish some last-minute Christmas shopping. When she returned home, she found her son cowering in bed and covered in bruises, with forehead welts and a handprint on his cheek. Her boyfriend allegedly claimed he was trying to teach the boy a lesson because "he needed to learn to listen," The Miami Herald reported.
“For a grown man to punch a child over and over and slap him and beat him with a belt ALL over is no man at all,” Payne wrote. “He is the lowest scum on earth…” According to Payne, she is a survivor of domestic violence and saw no signs in her boyfriend of 10 months that he could have done something to her son.
Payne immediately called police and McCollum was arrested, while the boy was taken to the hospital. McCollum is facing charges of child abuse and neglect, according to jail records. Since his arrest, the mom has filed a protective order against him.
“There is an evil inside of some people no one sees and that’s how this happened,” Payne wrote. “If I could change my son’s places in a heartbeat, I would.”
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