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.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division took over the case, conducting interviews with family members and other potential witnesses and collecting evidence from the medical evaluations performed at the two hospitals.
“Medical experts at Brenner’s Children’s Hospital determined the injuries to the child were caused by intentional physical abuse and some of the injuries were consistent with cigarette lighter burns and bite marks,” the release states. “As a result of evidence collected during the investigation and statements made by the parents of the victim, both were charged with felony intentionally child abuse causing serious bodily injury.”
Smith and Lowe were taken into custody on July 27 and booked into the Iredell County Detention Center. Iredell County Magistrate Judge Stanley Watkins ordered Smith to be held in lieu of $100,00 secured bond. Lowe was ordered held on $80,000 secured bond.
Authorities emphasized that the investigation into the alleged abuse is an ongoing endeavor for the sheriff’s office with the assistance of the Iredell County Department of Social Services.
The family member who called the sheriff’s office spoke to Charlotte, North Carolina, ABC and Telemundo affiliate WSOC about the ordeal.
The individual, who did not want to be named, told the station that they felt they needed to involve the authorities after being rebuffed when telling the parents that the baby’s injuries required immediate medical treatment. The family member also confirmed that the infant had been released from the hospital and was doing much better.
A neighbor told the station they had seen Lowe outside playing with the victim and other children often, saying it “looked like she was a great mother.”
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