A New Hampshire man is facing numerous charges after a 7-year-old boy was found unconscious and suffering from serious burns to his face and body on Tuesday.
Rainah Riley says her son, Jaevion, is in a coma after being rushed to a hospital in Boston. She says the man who was arrested, 25-year-old Murtadah Mohammad, is his biological father.
"The hospital described his injuries as torture, mutilation and brutalization," Riley said.
Jaevion is fighting for his life after being burned and beaten. Riley says doctors have told her to prepare for the worst, and that if her son wakes from the coma, he'll have minimal brain function. He is being treated for skull and rib fractures, bleeding in the brain, lung injuries, severe burns and more.
Riley says she has been crying nonstop since Tuesday, when she received a call from the Manchester Police Department explaining that her son had been hospitalized.
"It is absolutely gruesome, it is horrific, and it is sickening to look at. It makes me physically ill looking at my own son because of what this man did to him," she said.
Police arrested Mohammad Thursday at an apartment on Eastern Avenue in Manchester. He is charged with one count of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of falsifying physical evidence and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
"Detectives asked if we heard any screaming or yelling," Keith Rogers, a neighbor of Mohammad, said after being questioned by police. "There's a certain place in hell that people will rot for doing things like that."
"It looks as if it's from boiling water or oil, or just straight, just, maybe set on fire," Riley said. "His tooth was kicked out, he has blunt force trauma to the head. This man was trying to kill my child."
She told NBC10 Boston Mohammad got joint custody of Jaevion a few months ago. She says she tried reporting signs of abuse, like bruising, to the New Hampshire Division for Children, Youth and Families.
She claims nothing was done.
"I called for wellness checks on him when he was with him, for the bruising, and nobody did anything," Riley said. "The system has failed not only my child, but so many children. And something needs to be done, because this isn't OK. It's not. Like, when is enough enough?"
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Manchester police at 603-668-8711. Anonymous tips can also be called in to the Manchester Crimeline at 603-624-4040.
