50-year-old John Kraft, of Pennsylvania, is facing felony charges of child abuse. He is accused of beating, strangling, and burying his 6-year-old daughter in the yard. This was after he believed that she had been lying.
The girl told detectives that her dad usually hit her with a belt and with his arm. His arm contains a metal rod because of a medical operation.
She added that her dad had buried her in a hole in the yard where he kept her there throughout the night.
“The allegations are that this child was beaten brutally, that the child had bruises all over her body, that she was choked to the point that she passed out,” one official noted.
“She was buried in a hole as punishment. She was thrown in a hole overnight. Her head was slammed off the wall and slammed off the floor. This is a barbaric situation,” he added.
In September, social workers discovered extreme bruising on the girl’s face and body. Then, two weeks ago, when the girl and a sibling were questioned, they told police that Kraft had buried the girl in a hole in a yard.
The girl stated that her dad would put her in the yard “until she told the truth and that she would come out of the ground dirty and smelling like sewage.”
Kraft is facing charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, strangulation, endangering the welfare of children, and reckless endangerment. He also faces additional charges of false imprisonment of a minor and unlawful restraint of a minor.
His bond was set at $125,000.
The children are now in foster care.
