2 UNNAMED SISTERS - 6 and 8 yo (8/2014) - / Accused: Mother and Grandmother: Laura and Stacy Hamby - Phoenix AZ

Phoenix grandma, daughter accused of abusing girls

Posted on August 18, 2014 at 2:15 PM
Updated yesterday at 5:43 PM


Stacy Hamby (left) and Laura Hamby

PHOENIX (AP) -- A woman is accused of child abuse for allegedly spanking her two grandchildren with a belt in front of the children's mother, who also has been arrested.

Phoenix police say 43-year-old Stacy Hamby and 24-year-old Laura Hamby both are being held on two counts of felony child abuse.

Their bond was set Monday at $25,000 apiece at their initial court appearance. Neither woman has a lawyer yet.

Police say they were called by authorities at the girls' elementary school after a nurse found bruises on the children's buttocks and thighs Wednesday.

"They [police] went to the school," said Officer James Holmes with the Phoenix Police Dept. "They talked to the eight-year-old daughter and the six-year-old daughter found that actually they both had bruising and the bruising they were able to observe was consistent with being hit with a belt including what may be an image of a belt buckle."

The girls -- ages 6 and 8 -- say they were punished by their grandmother for not going to sleep at their apartment, which is in North Phoenix near 19th Avenue and Bell Rd.

Stacy Hamby reportedly told police she was upset at the girls' behavior and was under some stress.

Laura Hamby is accused of assisting with the beating and not protecting her children. She told police she was beaten by her mother, Stacy Hamby, when she was child. She said she didn't want her daughters living in that type of environment but said she had nowhere else to live.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Phoenix-grandma-daughter-accused-of-abusing-girls-271736861.html?gallery=y&img=0&c=y