NC Woman Charged with Animal Cruelty Plus

A NC mother of four is being charged after investigators uncover animal and child abuse:

Jennifer Lytton of Statesville faces one misdemeanor count of assault on a child under 12, one felony count of cruelty to animals, and two misdemeanor counts of instigating cruelty to animals.

The article states she put out a cigarette on her 5 year old's nose. When confronted by DSS about it, the mom tried the old switcheroo and blamed the DSS worker for the injury. Denial FAIL. Authorities then found the skeleton of a dog she had apparently starved to death in her yard, along with 2 Pitbulls she was still working on starving:

Detectives say the 5-year-old is now living with a relative and doing well. The dogs are now at Iredell County Animal Services.

The woman is out on bond. If she is found guilty, I hope the judge takes the animal cruelty charges seriously since there is often a connection between abuse of animals and violence against people. And in this case, the mother is allegedly already on that path.  Cruel people who prey upon the weak, the defenseless and the young they are charged with protecting need to be dealt with in an appropriately grave manner.  In addition, if the owner relinquishes or loses her rights to the canine victims, I hope they are given the opportunity for individual evaluations and rehoming, if appropriate. Every dog deserves a fair evaluation.