Inset, top to bottom: Martavious Levar Smith and Shalisa Monai Lowe (Iredell County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The home where the victim was allegedly abused by his parents (WSOC).
A 29-year-old father and a 31-year-old mother in North Carolina have been arrested and accused of abusing their 10-month-old child, who was allegedly covered with bite marks and burns from a cigarette lighter. Martavious Levar Smith and Shalisa Monai Lowe were taken into custody over the weekend and charged with one count each of felony intentional child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office, patrol deputies on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, responded to a home in the 100 block of Powder Horn Road for a welfare check on a 10-month-old child. Authorities said that family members of the infant decided to contact the sheriff’s office after they noticed there were “bruises and other unexplained markings on the child’s body.”
Upon arriving at the scene, deputies and emergency medical personnel with the county located the child and immediately observed “several bruises and injuries to the child,” per the release.
The infant was transported via ambulance to Iredell Memorial Hospital for treatment. The medical personnel who examined the infant determined the injuries were “consistent with physical abuse,” police said. Due to the severity of the infant’s condition, the child was transferred to Brenner’s Children’s Hospital for further evaluation and treatment.
