SAMALIYA BROWN - 6 yo - (2012) / Convicted: Mother April Chavunne Brown - Fort Worth, TX

Fort Worth mother of 7 sentenced to 27 years for child abuse

Posted Friday, Apr. 12, 2013

FORT WORTH -- A 33-year-old mother of seven was sentenced to 27
years in prison Friday for abusing a daughter so severely that she is
blind and brain-damaged.

April Chavunne Brown of Fort Worth was
convicted Thursday of causing serious bodily injury to a child. Jurors
in state District Judge Robb Catalano's court sentenced her Friday.

When the child, Samaiya, then 6, was brought to Cook Children's Medical
Center on April 21, 2012, she had swollen black eyes, broken front
teeth, a gash on her chin and bruises all over her body, according to a
news release from the Tarrant County district attorney's office.

Doctors reported that Samaiya was malnourished, had traumatic brain injuries,
had broken bones in various stages of healing, scars on her back and bedsores.

Samaiya was hospitalized for more than a month, the release said. She is now in foster care.

"Samaiya will always be blind, and she will always be developmentally delayed,"
prosecutor Rainey Webb said in an interview. "She has permanent brain damage."

Brown told police that she used a wooden paddle and belt
to discipline Samaiya but denied beating or abusing her. Sometimes, she
said, Samaiya had seizures and fell, injuring herself.

Police seized an aluminum baseball bat and a coaxial cable from Brown's house,
the release said. Samaiya's DNA was found in blood on the bat and cord.

Brown has had seven children by five men. She was pregnant with the seventh
when she was arrested. The baby, now 6 months old, was born while she
was in the Tarrant County Jail, Webb said.

Brown had no contact
with the baby, who went directly into foster care, Webb said. Brown's
other children -- the oldest is 13 -- are living with relatives or are
in foster care, Webb said.

Brown did not work but received government subsidies and help from relatives, Webb said.

"Her relatives were angry with her when this came to light," Webb said.
"They reached out to her and tried to help her. They offered to take the
kids off her hands when she got overwhelmed, and she just turned her back on them."

Brown was investigated in 2005 over reports that
her oldest daughter was abused, according to Marissa Gonzales, a
spokeswoman for Child Protective Services. The child went to live with
Brown's grandmother, Gonzales said in an email.

"Brown told police, 'Samaiya didn't love me like the other children loved me,'" Webb
said. "I believe she used these children to meet her emotional needs,
and when they did not, she abused them.

"But children are not in our lives to meet our emotional needs."

Brown must serve half her sentence before she is eligible for parole, Webb
said. Her attorney, Fred Cummings, declined to comment Friday, citing
attorney-client privilege.

Mitch Mitchell,
817-390-7752

http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/04/12/4771760/fort-worth-mother-of-7-sentenced.html