Mom Says Employee Got Off Easy After Beating Her Autistic Child

A woman said her child, who is autistic, was badly beaten by a worker at an Orange County group home. The boy's mother said the worker only got a slap on the wrist for the attack.

Not only is the mother of the victim in the case preparing a lawsuit against the care facility, but she's also disappointed with prosecutors that the man who abused her son served only one day in jail.

Donnell Redden may seem like the happiest 15-year-old in the world. He mostly laughs his way through each day. But he is autistic and has the mind of a child younger than two years old.

"I mean, I still think about it today. I mean, it really upsets me, just to see him like that," said Sheryl Ward, Donnell's mother.

Group Home Beating Victim 070307 Sheryl Ward with her son, Donnell Redden Ward remembers the day last summer when the head of the group home Donnell stayed at called to say he'd been beaten. She said group home employee Henoc Arbouet battered the autistic boy for wandering outside the house, which is no longer a group home but still a bad memory.

"Once he got out, that's when Henoc lost it. So that gives him the right to strike my son, to blacken his eye, to bust his lip, to swollen his face?" Ward questioned.

In a letter from the group home's attorneys, Florida Mentor Healthcare suggests they have no liability because "Arbouet was not acting within the scope of his employment" when the battery occurred.

"He's 6-foot-1, 6-foot-2. My son, he's only 5-1, 70 pounds. His mind is an infant or a toddler," Ward said.

What matters to Donnell's mom is that someone is held accountable and no other children are abused.

"I just want everyone to know what happened to him. I mean, he can't defend himself," she said.

The accused in the case agreed to a plea bargain in the case, receiving just one day in jail and probation.