A brave 9-year-old girl showed up to school in West Virginia with bruises on her face and a terrifying story. The unidentified child reportedly told staff that her parents beat her with an assortment of objects and locked her inside a bedroom in their Grafton home. After speaking with police, investigators went to the family’s home and found the objects the girl described. Sadly, her parents, Lewis “Butch” Nuzum II, 52, and Josephine Nuzum, 45, apparently didn’t deny hurting the child.
WDTV reported that the child arrived at school heavily bruised and shared heartbreaking allegations. The child said her parents regularly beat her with a silver and green metal fly swatter, a leather belt with a turquoise buckle, and a paddle with holes in it. She also claimed they locked her in her bedroom when they smoked outside. When police arrived at the family’s home, they reportedly found all the items she described.
Butch Nuzum allegedly told investigators he “Beat the a— off her” but only used his hands. Josephine Nuzum reportedly backed up the claim, saying she used “her hand on her rear end,” per WDTV. The mother added that her daughter “does this every year school starts.” Lewis Nuzum allegedly hit the child in the eye with a fly swatter the night before she reported the abuse and wanted her to stay home, but said the little girl “wanted to go to school.”
People in the WDTV Facebook comment section passed a lot of judgment on the parents.
“If you don’t want your children , please find somebody that does . Don’t abuse them . No child deserves to be mistreated!!” one angry person wrote.
“People should have to take a test to parent. They have to take one to drive,” someone else suggested.
This person felt like the child found herself in a vicious cycle of abusive behavior: “Beating a child doesn’t solve their parents own abuse that they received when they were children themselves. Seek counseling,” the commenter wrote.
Police arrested the couple, and a judge ordered them to Tygart Valley Regional Jail. Lewis Nuzum has a $100,000 bond and Josephine Nuzum has a $50,000 bond, per WDTV.
A parent who readily admits to beating their child needs to reexamine their life choices. No child deserves to be hurt by an adult. Perhaps these parents experienced abuse as children. If so, they should know better and not continue the same abhorrent behavior.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child) or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
