By Sam Hemingway, Free Press Staff Writer • Wednesday, April 7, 2010
A St. Johnsbury woman was ordered released on conditions this week after pleading not guilty to charges she hit an 11-year-old girl with various objects, including firewood and a hammer, and used knives to cut her near her genitals and on her legs.
Caledonia County State’s Attorney Lisa Warren said following the arraignment Monday in Vermont District Court in St. Johnsbury that she had sought to require Laurie Davenport, 42, to post $25,000 in bail as a condition of her release.
Judge Kathleen Manley ruled instead that Davenport be released on personal recognizance if she abides by a lengthy set of conditions, including remaining under house arrest at the home of her aunt and uncle.
A seven-page affidavit supporting the eight criminal charges filed against Davenport described instances where Davenport allegedly forced the girl to take baths in boiling-hot water, beat her with a shovel, pulled out teeth with pliers, and burned her with a hot curling iron and a cookie sheet.
The Free Press is not reporting the girl’s relationship to Davenport to protect the girl’s identity.
“Davenport cut her using two different knives,” the affidavit said, paraphrasing what the girl told police and a state Department for Children and Families worker. “Davenport used the large knife to cut the back of (her) legs where she bled on the kitchen floor. ... Davenport cut the area of her ‘private parts’ with a black-handled, smaller knife.”
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Davenport, who also was charged with a probation violation in connection with the allegations, pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges she left a 9-year-old child locked in a bedroom while she went to work.
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http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100407/NEWS02/100406017/St.-Johnsbury-woman-charged-in-assault-on-child(although it doesn't say so in the article, the child is the adopted daughter of the accused)