Prosecutors: Father, Girlfriend Beat 11-Year-Old Girl After She Ate His Ice Cream

CHICAGO (STMW) -- When Pierre Scarbrough realized his 11-year-old daughter had eaten his ice cream, prosecutors say the South Side man and his girlfriend plotted for hours to beat the little girl with an electrical cord when she came home from school.

A school official later noticed the bruises, swelling and laceration apparently resulting from her punishment, a prosecutor said, and now 41-year-old Scarbrough and 37-year-old Faith Alston are in lieu of $200,000 bail while charged with aggravated battery of a child and domestic battery.

Meanwhile Jose Morales-Garcia, 26, and Amy Pherigo, 31, have also been charged with aggravated battery of a child and are being held in lieu of $2 million bail as a result of severe injuries discovered to Pherigo's 4-year-old son in a separate incident.

All four appeared in front of Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. for bond hearings Sunday at the 26th and California criminal courthouse.

Assistant State's Attorney Heather Kent told the judge Scarbrough got upset Thursday that his daughter had eaten all of his ice cream. He and Alston, of the 8000 block of S. Loomis, discussed how they were going to hit the girl with an electrical cord after she came home from school, authorities said.

The girl came home around 4 p.m., Kent said, and about four hours later the couple entered her bedroom. Kent said Alston grabbed the girl and held her down while Scarbrough hit the girl with the cord 12 times.

Officers were called to the girl's school the next day when Kent said an assistant dean noticed her injuries. According to police reports, the girl also said Scarbrough hit her in the left eye with his fist on May 1. Scarbrough and Alston were arrested Friday, police said, and Kent said they admitted the Thursday beating.

Police also quoted Scarbrough in their reports as saying, "Yea, I beat that lil b---- a-- with an ironing cord. She stole from me." The girl was taken to Little Company of Mary Hopsital.

Kent later told the judge how police went to a home in the 4400 block of S. Fairfield on April 29 to investigate an anonymous call to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Pherigo answered the door, Kent said, and police found her son lying in his bed with his blanket covering his body.

The boy's eyes were swollen shut and he had multiple bruises on his face, Kent said. Morales-Garcia was also in the home.

The child was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was treated for hematomas to the brain, fractured ribs with hematomas, lacerations to the liver, spleen and left cheek and severe bruising and swelling to his entire face.

He also suffered severe bruising on both arms and legs, his back and deep scratches to his back and left heel, Kent said.

Pherigo said he suffered the injuries when he fell down the stairs, Kent said. A witness and sibling of the victim said Pherigo put make-up on the victim's bruises, Kent said, and another witness saw Morales-Garcia using fingernail clippers on the victim's legs causing lacerations.

The victim said Morales-Garcia hit him, Kent said, and she said Pherigo made incriminating statements to a witness.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)