A Georgia mother was arrested over the weekend after she was seen slamming her 5-year-old daughter into a fence at a crowded festival in Evans.
Witnesses told police that Jordyn Whitlaw, 34, grabbed the girl by the neck and slammed her face into the fence at a Mardi Gras celebration at Evans Towne Center Park, WJBF reports. She also was seen grabbing the girl by the hair.
At least three witnesses saw what happened, according to the Augusta Press. One woman went to deputies at the festival and said “that a woman was abusing a juvenile girl at the playground area.”
One witness told police she saw Whitlaw yelling at her daughter and then throwing her into a chain link fence. When the girl began to cry, Whitlaw grabbed her by the ears, screaming at her. The witness yelled back at Whitlaw to stop abusing the child, and Whitlaw responded, “that’s my daughter. I can do what I want.”
Another witness said the girl was not listening to her mother, and he saw Whitlaw grab her by the hair and throw her into the fence. Whitlaw then grabbed her by the throat and was confronted by the first witness.
A third witness said the other appeared to be trying to give the girl a “time out,” leading to the abuse.
Deputies found the woman a child, who had an abrasion on the side of her neck.
Whitlaw has been charged with cruelty to children.
The girl was released into her father’s custody and a report was made with child protective services.
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[Featured image: Jordyn Whitlaw/Columbia County Sheriff’s Office]
