Background: The Thorntons on South 7th Street in Louisville, Kentucky (Google Maps). Inset: Noella Uwimana (Jefferson County Jail).
A woman in Kentucky hit her 6-year-old daughter repeatedly and gouged her face because she ate a candy bar without yet paying for it, law enforcement says.
Noella Uwimana, 42, has been charged with first-degree assault related to domestic violence and first-degree criminal abuse of a child 12 years of age or under. She is currently in the Jefferson County Jail.
On Saturday, Uwimana and her child were at a Thorntons convenience store on South 7th Street in Louisville, Kentucky. According to the woman, she was inside the store getting an iced coffee when her daughter requested a candy bar. The mother said no.
The child was apparently undeterred. She grabbed the snack and started eating it, and an employee told Uwimana that she would have to pay for the item, Louisville Fox affiliate WDRB reported, citing court documents.
The defendant reportedly paid for the candy bar, and she and her kid went to their vehicle outside. The ensuing moments were caught on video.
Uwimana balled her hand into a fist and began hitting her daughter “with no hesitation or reduction in a blatant attempt to cause an impact on the victim sitting in the seat,” the court documents stated, per area CBS affiliate WLKY. The mother allegedly gouged her kid’s face and hit her repeatedly, leaving the child with scratches.
Officers say that when the mother tried to leave, a witness stopped her and helped the child get out of the vehicle. The girl ran into the store and was later taken to a nearby hospital to be examined.
Uwimana was arrested and booked into jail. She had her arraignment on Monday.
