LAYTON, Utah, April 25, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A Layton man has been charged with child abuse after prosecutors say he caused severe burns to a toddler.
Gaven Sydney Watson, 19, was charged Thursday with child abuse — inflicting serious physical injury recklessly, a third-degree felony. The charge is related to an incident alleged to have occured on Feb. 9 of this year.
“An 18-month-old child was taken to Primary Children’s hospital on Feb. 9,
2019 with severe burns,” says a probable cause statement filed by a Layton Police officer.
“Dr. Larissa Hines reported that the child was admitted to the burn unit with deep second degree burns to his buttocks, genitals, legs, and feet.”
Watson was interviewed, the statement says.
“He stated that he had woken up on Feb. 9 at his home in Layton, Utah to find that the child had smeared feces in the child’s bedroom. The defendant indicated that he was upset and took the child to the bathroom, ‘turned the bath on,’ and put the child in the bathtub.
“He said that the child was screaming, but he did not immediately notice that the water was burning the child because he was talking to the child’s mother. The mother pulled the child from the tub and they realized that the child had been injured. The defendant stated that he had turned on both of the cold and hot water taps, but he did not check the temperature of the water before placing the child in the water.”
Watson also admitted he was yelling at the toddler before placing him in the water, the statement says.
The charge was authorized by the Davis County Attorney’s Office. A summons was issued for Watson’s arrest. As of 1 p.m. Thursday, he had not been booked into the Davis County Jail.
