1/1/2022
Prosecutors Say 5-Year-Old Pennsylvania Girl Was Tortured.
Earlier in 2022, prosecutors had expectations the girl was not going to survive after suffering “torture-like” injuries at the hands of 32-year-old Deborah Anne Holton and allegedly by the girl’s biological mother, 33-year-old Sheona Eyvonne Banks, inside a residence on Sylvanus Street in Wilkes-Barre.
Holton appeared before Judge David W. Lupas to be sentenced on child endangerment and reckless endangerment offenses involving abuse toward the girl and a 16-year-old boy with autism.
Lupas imposed an aggravated sentence above sentencing guidelines, sending Holton to state prison for five-to-17 years.
Lupas noted his reasoning for the hefty sentence after Tessa Weigand, a registered nurse in the emergency room at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township, described the condition of the girl when she was taken to the facility Feb. 25.
Weigand, who is trained in recognizing child abuse, described horrific injuries the girl sustained.
“This child was tortured,” Weigand told Lupas. “Had this been done to a soldier, it would be a war crime. This was a 4-year-old girl.”
Wilkes-Barre police detectives in court records say Holton and Banks took the girl to Geisinger about four hours after they claimed the child suffered a seizure.
Weigand said she repeatedly asked Holton and Banks how the girl was injured but received little to no response from the two women.
Assistant district attorneys Carly Hislop and Jarrett Ferentino said the girl was transferred to Geisinger Medical Center near Danville where she underwent emergency surgery and placed on life support.
As Hislop described the girl’s injuries to Lupas, the girl in a wheelchair was brought into the courtroom where the prosecutor remarked it was a miracle she survived, and being “chatty” while playing with toys on a wheelchair tray.
“This case is far more than neglect,” Hislop noted, describing the girl and the 16-year-old boy were not provided daily needs, including dental care, bathing and food.
Banks is scheduled for trial before Lupas in January on two counts of endangering the welfare of children and a single count of recklessly endangering another person. She remains jailed without bail at the county correctional facility.
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