A doctor testified today that a mother who glued her two-year-old daughter's hands to a wall also beat the toddler so badly that she suffered significant brain trauma and bleeding inside her skull.
Elizabeth Escalona pleaded guilty on July 12 to injury to a child. The 23-year-old mother is being sentenced today. She faces up to life in prison. A state district judge will decide her punishment.
The doctor showed photos of the beaten child in court this morning in which she had bruises, cuts and bite marks all over her body shortly after she was brought to Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.
Some of her hair had been pulled out and there was glue in her eyelashes and on her hands.
The toddler was in a coma for two days after the September 7, 2011, incident.
Police records show the toddler's siblings told investigators their mother repeatedly kicked the girl in the stomach and hit her with various objects before gluing her hands to the wall because of potty training.
Dr Amy Barton, a child abuse pediatrician who worked at the hospital at the time, cried when she testified about the injuries, according to the Dallas Morning News.
'The entire picture was very shocking. I see a lot of children and this was one of the most shocking things that I’ve seen.'
The section of the wall the toddler's hands were glued to was cut out and presented to the court.
She previously said of the case: 'I have no comment, and only God can judge me. That’s all I gotta say.'
The toddler, Joselyn Cedillo, was briefly on a life support nachine.
According to police records, glue and paint were stuck to her palms, with skin torn away in places.
She then allegedly hit the girl in the stomach with a milk jug, kicked her and beat her with a shoe and a belt.
Police said that numerous people had seen the suspect inflict pain on her daughter in the past.
On the day of the attack Escalona changed her Facebook profile photo to one of her and Jocelyn and wrote: 'Why does God put obstacles in my life?'
The girl has recovered from her injuries. She and her siblings were taken into state custody after their mother’s arrest.
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