'Depraved and sadistic' carer who forced nine-year-old boy to brush his teeth with dog mess is jailed

A woman has been jailed for abusing three young boys in her care, beating them with bamboo sticks and forcing the youngest to brush his teeth with dog excrement. Stephanie Chibnall, 45, had been in ‘temporary care’ of the brothers, now aged nine, ten and 13, since 2008. She was sentenced to 20 months in jail over the abuse, which saw her regularly punish the children for the most trivial reason, such as failing to find her cigarettes or not having enough home work.

Jailed: Stephanie Chibnall, 45, was found guilty at Maidstone Crown Court over her abuse of the three brothers in her care

The abuse came to light when a teacher at the boys’ school reported that one had turned up looking like he had been ‘in a car crash’. Ms Chibnall, from Gravesend, Kent, who has been looking after the boys since their mother had a mental breakdown in 2008, was found guilty of three counts of cruelty to a person under 16. She will also be banned from working with children, Maidstone Crown Court heard. During an earlier hearing the court was told she regularly beat the brothers with her fists, sticks and an electric fly swatter - leaving them covered in severe cuts and bruises.

 

Sentencing: Judge David Griffith-Jones QC called Ms Chibnall's acts sadistic

On one occasion she made the youngest boy brush his teeth with dog faeces as punishment for having a dirty toothbrush. During the sentencing, judge David Griffith-Jones QC called the act ‘depraved and sadistic’. Anthony Prosser, prosecuting, told the court previously how an investigation in Ms Chibnall began after one of the boys - who cannot be named for legal reasons - turned up at school with a huge bruise from his knee to his hip. Teachers reported the injury, saying it looked like the boy had ‘been in a car crash’.

The abuse, which took place between 2008 and March 2011, saw the boys ‘frequently beaten with sticks’ for not having any homework or for being unable to find Ms Chibnall’s cigarettes. One of the boys told of one occasion where he was beaten so hard the bamboo stick broke.

Mr Prosser said: 'He [the boy] said she demanded to know why he didn’t always have homework. 'She picked up a stick she used to threaten dogs with and hit him on the leg and arm. 'He cried because it hurt. She told him he was being a baby.'

Another time she asked him why his room was messy and struck him, causing the boy to hit his head on the window sill. He was left with a scar about half an inch long. Mr Prosser added: 'He went to A&E and the cut was glued. She told him to tell the nurses he had fallen off his skateboard. Another told how he was punched in the mouth when he said he did not have any spellings for homework. He had a couple of days off school and told teachers he had been hit by a swing. He said she told him not to tell anyone or she would hit him again.

Sentencing Ms Chibnall to prison, Judge David Griffith-Jones QC, told her: ‘I cannot ignore the lasting damage you are likely to have caused to these three young boys. ‘I cannot ignore, on the face of it, the depraved and sadistic feature involved in the incident with the toothbrush.’ Ms Chibnall denied ever assaulting the youngsters but said she had made them stand in the corner with their hands on their heads to discipline them. She claimed the stick was to control her dogs and she did not hit the children with it. She claimed to know nothing about a toothbrush incident.

 Source: Daily Mail UK 

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