A 21-year-old father in Indiana is charged after severely beating his twin infant boys.
ABC 57 reports Osceola native, Matthew Willet has been charged with two counts of domestic battery after abusing his twin sons and causing serious bodily injuries for persons less than 14 years old.
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The twins are facing “horrendous injuries” as reported by the agency and St. Joseph County Special Victims Unit, some of which include rib fractures, possible permanent vision loss, severe fluid in the brain, and an acute subdural hemorrhage.
On April 13, Willet faced a St. Joseph County courtroom and admitted he was “shaking both of his sons, several times, on multiple occasions.” Each count of abuse has a maximum sentence of 16 years.
Court documents reveal the extent and graphic nature of Willet’s abuse. The ABC News affiliate reports that for one of his sons, Willet admitted to “putting him on the bed, from about three to four inches off the bed.” While for the other son, he was “hitting his back hard to try and calm him down.”
The abuse was discovered after two separate hospital visits, with the South Bend Tribune reporting it took place between Feb. 14 and April 13. Authorities were alerted to the abuse earlier this month when doctors had reported one of the twin boys had stopped breathing.
Willet is currently held at the St. Joseph County Jail in South Bend, Indiana on a cash bond of $8,000 and several limitations will be made if he bonds out.
The court has ordered him to wear a GPS tracker if he is released on bond, and would not be allowed to contact his sons or their mother, who tell the news agency how horrified she was to learn of the abuse.
“[I] had no idea a monster was living under our roof,” she said, adding that the family is still processing the horror over the abuse.
One of the twins has been cleared medically by doctors and is expected to make a recovery. The second is said to still be recovering.
