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| Photo Credit: AP. |
A Texas mom who handcuffed her teenage twins and forced them to drink bleach pleaded guilty a decade ago to charges of putting her kids in danger. The teenagers reported the incident to Texas police and the woman is now in jail in Louisiana in relation to the crime. Her boyfriend was also arrested.
Last week
40-year-old Zaikiya Duncan was arrested in Louisiana after revelations from
doorbell videos showed the 15-year-old siblings, barefoot and holding
handcuffs, knocking on homes before dawn in their suburban Houston neighborhood
and asking for help, The Associated Press reported.
Duncan and
her boyfriend were in a jail facility in Baton Rouge, about 250 miles (400
kilometers) east of Houston, pending their extradition on charges of aggravated
assault, The Associated Press quoted authorities as saying.
Affidavit
from a Harris Counter constable in Houston revealed the kids, a brother and
sister were severely malnourished for months. The victims told authorities
Duncan handcuffed them and forced them to drink bleach and other household
cleaners, and sprayed oven cleaner in their mouths “if they talked too much,” The
Associated Press cited the affidavit.
The twin
teenagers reportedly escaped Tuesday with lacerations on their wrist after the
brother found a key to the handcuffs and hid it in his mouth.
Duncan and
another man were accused in 2012 of locking their children in a closet and subjected
two other kids to various abuses ranging from burns and being submerged in hot
water. It was not clear if the affected child was one of the twins.