Jevin Grant: Man arrested for forcing stepson to drink hot sauce and hold bottle rocket in mouth till it exploded
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT: Connecticut man Jevin Grant has been taken into police custody for abusing his stepson constantly over four months. The young boy had to sleep in a locked laundry room, drink hot sauce until he vomited and hold a bottle rocket in his mouth until it exploded. The boy's mother, Kaitlin Elizabeth Baptiste, 29, was arrested along with Grant on October 16. Though Baptiste didn't directly play a part in the abuse, she did not do anything to stop the crime.
Naugatuck police first began investigating the couple for a report of abuse. They were called to their Forest Street home, north of New Haven, on October 1, where they interrogated Grant and Baptiste. The police said that Grant had forced the child to stay confined to the locked laundry room at all times and was allowed out of it only to use the bathroom. The boy was subjected to a number of punishments, including being forced to kneel on tacks and drink hot sauce. The arrest warrant also had a mention of the incident where the victim had eaten too much spicy food following which he was forced to ingest his own vomit. It was also alleged that Grant had forced the boy to hold a bottle rocket in his own mouth until it exploded, according to authorities. A Department of Children and Families worker noticed a scar on the victim's face which resulted from holding the explosive in his mouth, according to WFSB.
Grant confessed to having locked the boy in the laundry room to a DCF worker. However, he said he did it to discipline him for being too rough with his siblings. The boy, on the other hand, in a conversation with DCF, said that one of his siblings was playing and had "cracked his head open", but he had to take the blame for it and was punished. Grant had allegedly beaten the boy up with his belt on returning home that day.
The boy, whose age and identity are yet to be released, added that while his sibling recuperated in the hospital, he was being punished by Grant who made him stand in a corner facing the wall for about a week and sleep on a mattress in the tiny laundry room. In that same week, Grant forced the boy to kneel on rice grains for a whole day and asked him to do pushups till he fails to move his limbs. The boy was also forced to stand on one foot on a ladder that had tacks on the steps and underneath it. The boy told the DCF that he had to put his foot down to rest his tired leg and the tacks injured him making him bleed.
The police realized that the boy's mother had been aware of the abuse but didn't do anything to stop it. "Through the investigation, it was determined the accused was aware that her husband, the juvenile's step-father, was forcing him to sleep in a locked closet for several months and would subject the child to various physical punishments, including kneeling on tacks and drinking hot sauce until he vomited," police said, according to the Daily Mail. Grant and Baptiste both made their first court appearance Monday, October 19. Grant has been charged with risk of injury to a child, second-degree assault, intentional cruelty, disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment, while Baptiste was charged with risk of injury to a child, reckless endangerment, conspiracy to commit intentional cruelty and conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct. Grant and Baptiste were released after posting $25,000 and $10,000 bonds respectively and they’re expected to return to court on November 10.