Saturday, September 14, 2013

Dog alerts family to babysitter's child abuse


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/14/family-dog-alerts-south-carolina-couple-to-babysitter-abuse-toddler/?intcmp=latestnews

Alexis Kahn, a 22 year old babysitter, was recently found guilty of child abuse and sentenced to one to three years in jail in South Carolina. Shockingly enough, the child’s parents were alerted of the abuse by their dog’s odd behavior toward Kahn. Benjamin and Hope Jordan noticed that their usually friendly dog would get very defensive of their seven month old son whenever Kahn would walk in the room. The dog would stand in front of the baby, acting as a shield, and would growl at Kahn. The Jordans reported that the dog had even tried to attack Kahn on multiple occasions.

                The Jordans became suspicious and knew that something was not right with these situations, so they placed an iPhone underneath the couch before they went to work one day and secretly recorded Kahn’s interactions with their son Finn. After playing back the audio, they found that Kahn had in fact been abusing Finn. Benjamin Jordan said that it began with Kahn screaming and cursing at the baby, and then slapping sounds were heard. He also believes that he heard sounds of Kahn shaking Finn while he cried out in pain.

The Jordan family reported the incident to the local police and Kahn was tried and found guilty of assault and battery in Charleston County Circuit Court. In addition to her one to three year sentence, she was also placed on child abuse registry, preventing her from ever working with children in the future. Hope and Benjamin Jordan say that their son is doing well now, and it is unlikely that he will suffer any permanent damage from the abuse.

I chose to write about this article for my current event because I love dogs and I found this story to be very interesting. I have always had a particular interest in the way dogs think and act, and I think it is so cool how dogs are able to sense when a situation is wrong and communicate the issues with humans.

3 comments:

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  2. Brielle, that is so crazy! I can't imagine how the parents must feel finding out that their baby sitter, someone they trusted with the most important thing in their life, was abusing their son. I can't believe that the dog was able to help the parents find out what was really going on though. That's actually great. really interesting article!
    -Sabrina

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  3. I read this article too! I found it astounding that this dog was so protective of its family member. The fact that he acted as a guard for the innocent baby warmed my heart. I am glad that the babysitter went to jail because it is crazy that someone the parents hired and paid would injure their child. I can't imagine how the parents felt after discovering that their child was being abused by a trusted caretaker. They are very lucky that they have such a loving and compassionate dog. It just goes to show how dogs really are mans best friend haha. Awesome article choice!
    -Merrilee

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