A man in Florida allegedly tried to circumcise his toddler cousin who he was babysitting, according to police.
The Holly Hill Police Department said Timothoes Powell, 29, allegedly cut his 2-year-old cousin in the groin while he was babysitting him on Oct. 17 and was trying to circumcise the toddler, according to FOX 35.
Police say that Powell was babysitting the toddler while his mother was working. While the child’s grandparents were home when the incident happened, both of them were sleeping.
Powell called the boy’s mother at around 7 p.m. and said that her son was “bleeding from his penis area as glass had entered his diaper,” according to an incident report.
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Powell said that when he attempted to wipe the glass off, it caused the skin to break, police said.
Officials said the toddler’s skin needed to be glued in order to repair the injury.
Hospital staff told police about the injury because they “feared some type of abuse was happening at the residence,” an officer wrote in the report.
Home surveillance cameras allegedly showed the 29-year-old walking away with an unknown object in his hand after he changed the toddler’s diaper.
Before putting the diaper back on, the toddler could be heard screaming, the report states.
When asked by police, Powell said “he may have pulled (the boy’s) penis downward with too much force” and tried to “to wipe him very hard,” according to the document, telling police he didn’t “intentionally” cut him.
Police said they consulted with an advanced practice nurse from the Child Protection Team, who confirmed child abuse took place.
The nurse said that while the home surveillance video didn’t show “any blatant abuse,” the laceration on the toddler’s groin area was “much too clean and precise to be accidental in any way,” stating it was “as if they may have tried to circumcise” him.
Powell was allegedly seen earlier on the security camera yelling at the boy and threatened to put soap in his mouth if he didn’t get quiet.
“There must have been a piece of glass in his diaper,” Powell told police, the report states.
The incident report also states that Powell admitted to becoming frustrated and was beginning to lose his temper.
Powell was initially charged with aggravated child abuse and is at the Volusia County Branch Jail on a $100,000 bond.
