A judge has been bombarded with threats after she granted bail to a Georgia daycare worker accused of battering a one-year-old boy.
Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Rose-Emmons released accused child abuser Yvette Thurston on a $44,000 bond on August 16.
Thurston, 54, of Bainbridge, is charged with leaving one-year-old Clay Weeks with a black eye and deep scratches on his face and neck after his first day at school.
District Attorney Joe Mulholland released a statement a few days after Thurston was released on bail condemning the threats sent to Rose-Emmons.
Mulholland said his office would prosecute anyone who sent menaces to the judge, saying it would ‘not tolerate threats against our judges’.
‘The rule of law is the foundation of our community,’ the district attorney wrote.
‘Our judges deserve to perform their duties without fear for their safety. You may not like their decisions, but you don’t have the right to threaten them or their families.’
Thurston has been charged with first-degree aggravated battery and three counts of first-degree child abuse. The child’s father said she tried to blame another pupil when asked how his son got so badly bruised.
A magistrate judge has been bombarded with threats after she granted bail to a Georgia daycare worker accused of battering one-year-old Clay Weeks (pictured above)
‘This is every parent’s worst nightmare and WE had to live it and are still living it,’ Clay’s father, Cory Weeks (pictured with his wife), wrote on Facebook after unearthing the alleged abuse
Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Rose-Emmons (pictured) released accused child abuser Yvette Thurston on a $44,000 bond on August 16, sparking outrage
The victim’s father, Cory Weeks, said Thurston abused his son following his first day of school at Little Blessings Child Care in Bainbridge, south-west Georgia.
‘This is every parent’s worst nightmare and WE had to live it and are still living it,’ Weeks wrote in a Facebook post.
‘We were told another child in Clay’s class did this type of damage with a plastic toy,’ he added.
It wasn’t until the suspicious father watched surveillance footage that they found out what really happened to his son.
‘Nothing we saw was for the faint-hearted, especially happening to such an innocent soul,’ Weeks wrote.
Thurston was arrested on August 11, and the church daycare center was temporarily closed.
Yvette Thurston, of Bainbridge, was arrested on August 11 on child abuse and other charges
Thurston, 54, of Bainbridge, is charged with leaving one-year-old Clay Weeks (pictured) with a black eye and deep scratches on his face and neck after his first day at school in south Georgia
The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning is investigating the case and said Thurston has been terminated from her position. The school was placed under an emergency closure and will be closed for 21 days
Clay, whose three-year-old brother Wyatt also goes to the daycare, was rushed to the hospital to be treated for his injuries.
‘Clay received the best care while we were there,’ the father wrote.
The parents speculated that this isn’t the first time Thurston has done this to a student, due to the ‘severity’ of the ‘acts of violence’ against the young boy.
Weeks has been warning other parents to not be complacent when told how their child may have been injured while at school or in daycare.
‘Don’t ever feel like you can’t question how an injury happened to your child because I almost didn’t,’ he wrote.
‘Also, don’t believe the ‘happy pictures’ sent to you parents because we had that done as well during a day of complete torture of our Clay.’
The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning is investigating the case and said Thurston has been terminated from her position.
