HOUSTON – A 26-year old woman is accused of torturing her 6-year-old son in unimaginable ways including beating him in the head with tools, forcing him to stand in a bed of insects, and scalding his tongue with a hot spoon.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Special Victim’s Unit / Crimes Against Children investigators were called to LBJ Hospital on May 22 after the boy’s mother, Jessica Ann Mungia, brought him in saying that his left arm was possibly broken. Doctors confirmed the broken arm but also discovered that the boy was covered head to toe with horrific bruises. In addition the boy had a burn wound on his left hand, lacerations to his scalp, and a badly scorched tongue.
Child Protective Services were called to question the boy who gave shocking explanations as to the causes of his injuries. The boy explained that his scalp injury occurred after his mom hit him with a screwdriver. On one occasion the boy said his mother grabbed him and choked him, resulting in bruises to his chin and neck. Moreover, the boy said that his mother would “tie up his arms and legs and his dad would cover his mouth with a sock.”
And the list goes on.
* A linear mark on his right arm, allegedly a result of his mom cutting him with a knife.
* Blisters in his mouth, allegedly from a spoon his mother heated up on the stove. “My mom got a hot spoon – hot, hot, hot – almost red, and she burned me.”
* Wounds across back, allegedly from a belt buckle
* Hand injuries caused by his mother allegedly placing his hands over a hot stove.
The boy also stated that his mother would punish him by making him face the wall and would then beat him with a cable. Another form of punishment according to the boy occurred when his mother made him stand in ants resulting in multiple bites.
With regards to the boy’s broken arm, he told authorities “my mom broke it,” but that she instructed him to lie about it as well as all his other injuries.
Doctors confirmed that the injuries were consistent with the boy’s accounts.
Mungia was charged with four counts of felony injury to a child and given a $60,000 bond. In 2007, she was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.