Inset: Daisha Phillips (Hamilton County Detention Center). Background: The building in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Phillips allegedly abused her two young kids (Google Maps).
A 28-year-old mother in Ohio is accused of severely abusing her two young children, allegedly binding their hands and shoving each of them down a flight of stairs, telling authorities she considered it “normal discipline”.
Daisha Phillips was taken into custody on Monday and charged with two counts of endangering children, court records show.
Phillips and her two children — a 4-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl — live in Winton Hills, Ohio, about 100 miles southwest of Columbus. According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, the alleged abuse of Phillips” son took place “on or about” Monday, Aug. 18, at the residence located in the 5200 block of Vivian Place.
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Police say Phillips committed the abuse by “binding the victim…her son, at his wrists with rope and pushing him down a flight of stairs.” Phillips’ actions are said to have caused “a risk of serious physical harm” to the 4-year-old.
She is also accused of creating a “substantial risk” to her son’s health by “violating a duty of care and protection” when she “tied and bound the victim with rope at his wrists and pushed him down a flight of stairs.”
Additional court documents obtained by Fox affiliate WXIX in nearby Newport, Kentucky, provided more details about what led to Phillips’ arrest, particularly the allegations involving her 5-year-old daughter. According to the report, in addition to binding the girl’s hands with rope and shoving her down the stairs like her brother, authorities allege that Phillips also physically abused the 5-year-old girl in other ways.
Phillips allegedly struck the child “numerous times with a belt, causing serious physical injury which required (her daughter) to be admitted overnight to a hospital,” court documents reportedly state.
In an interview with a social worker for the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services, Phillips allegedly “admitted” to causing the injuries to her daughter, stating “that was her ‘normal discipline,'” police reportedly wrote.
The victims reportedly underwent forensic interviews with a trained social worker at the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children where both confirmed “that the abuse had occurred.”
Phillips was booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center Monday afternoon. She appeared Tuesday morning in Hamilton County Municipal Court before Judge Jackie Ginocchio, who set her bond at a full $50,000, denying 10% posting. Should Phillips make bond, the judge prohibited her from having any contact with her two children. The judge also appointed a public defender to represent Phillips in the matter.
