Stepdad left toddler permanently scarred after holding boy’s hands under scalding water to punish him

A child abuser was jailed for holding a toddler’s hands under scalding water to punish him for misbehaving.

Daniel Gass, 23, was handed a 10 year sentence for felony child abuse on Monday after the boy was found horrifically wounded at his home in January this year.

Gass and the boy’s mother Karen Reed failed to seek medical attention after the horrific attack, instead bandaging the youngster’s arms up in the hope they’d heal.

But those injuries were exposed after police were given a tip that the youngster was being abused and subsequently performed a welfare check on him.

The boy was found bleeding from his wounds at the property in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and was so seriously ill he had to be airlifted to hospital.

Doctors say the little boy may have been living with his horrific injuries for almost three weeks, and now faces permanent discoloration to his skin as a result.

They determined that the youngster had been ‘tortured and grossly neglected,’ and that he had also suffered injuries to his spleen, pancreas and liver consisted with abuse.

He also had a large lump on his forehead.

Gass and Reed, who was sentenced to a decade in jail with five years suspended for failing to seek help, tried to claim the boy had been injured after falling into a bonfire.

But Reed later turned on her fiance and admitted to police that he was the one responsible for the wounds, Fredericksburg.com reported.

Her son has now been placed in foster care.

After Monday’s sentencing, prosecutor Paul Walther said: ‘Child abuse will not be tolerated in our community.

‘I am proud of the hard work of the sheriff’s office, department of social services and my office have done to ensure that justice was served today.’