East Prairie woman arrested on child abuse charges

EAST PRAIRIE -- A East Prairie woman is in jail after being arrested for beating her child.

According to a release from the East Prairie Police Department, Captain Joleda Douglas responded to a residence in East Prairie on Monday to assist the Children's Division in an investigation of a hotline call for suspected child abuse.

Ashley Nichole Brown-Wyvell, the mother of the child, explained that her son was assaulted by another student on school property that resulted in a black eye. She told officers she didn't want the school to report her for something she was not responsible for. Brown-Wyvell said she was not planning to send her child back to school until the black eye was fully healed.

The child was not at the residence at that time. After some investigation, it was learned that the mother took the child to the grandmother's residence to look after him for a few days until the bruises healed.

After an interview with the child, other injuries were discovered. The child told officers that his mother was mad at him and whipped him with a belt. The child had significant contusions and bruising to his face, ear, arms, legs, back and buttocks, according to the officer.

After Douglas conducted an extensive interview with Brown-Wyvell, she admitted to "freaking out" and whipping her child. She was only able to recollect whipping him with the belt twice to his buttocks but did not remember any of the incident that occurred.

For the full story see Wednesday's Standard Democrat.