A former Ridgeland resident faces up to life in prison for felony child abuse.
Akilah Watson, 36, is accused of physically assaulting her children on numerous occasions and is even said to have held one of the children at gunpoint last July.
Watson’s 16-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son were taken to temporary foster homes and eventually placed with their grandmother. Both children testified at trial that they had been beaten with objects including an extension cord, a bat, and a walking stick. The two also testified that their mother had pistol-whipped the female child.
“The bravery of these children to testify against the mother they love, compounded by the brutality of the abuse suffered at her hands, did not go unnoticed by the jury during this trial,” Madison County District Attorney Bubba Bramlett said.
“We are grateful to them both and for the teamwork of, and between, Child Protective Services and the Ridgeland Police Department to ensure justice.”
Watson will be sentenced on May 13th. She faces a minimum sentence of five years behind bars.
