Police say abused child still too weak for surgery

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — 24 year old Catherine Ammons and 27 year old James Watson remain behind bars tonight accused of severely injuring Ammons’ daughter. Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews says Ammons used fear as a reason for not stopping the abuse. “If she had done anything about this Mr. Watson would have beat her,” says Sheriff Matthews. Tuesday, Sheriff Matthews told ABC Columbia News the child remains in an undisclosed hospital still too weak for surgery. But Matthews says doctors told him they were able to remove an abscessed lesion from her hip, an injury they believe was also a result of abuse. Abuse, a neighbor told ABC Columbia News her daughter overheard. “My daughter was on Spring Break with some friends on my front porch and she heard the child being hit and screamed and begging to stop hitting her,” says Melita Horton, neighbor. She says she called police, but didn’t go outside when they arrived and claims they left. We followed up with Sheriff Matthews about her claim. He tells us deputies did respond. However, when they arrived there were numerous mobile homes at the address and no one was around to direct them to the child’s home. Sheriff Matthews says his department is re-evaluating procedures and while he does not think officers dropped the ball, going forward he is asking them to take extraordinary steps when it comes to reports of child abuse. Matthews adds while additional charges against Ammons and Watson have not been filed, he does expect those to be forth coming.