Man Charged With Child Abuse After Threatening To Feed Young Boy To Alligators

A man has been arrested and charged with child abuse after allegedly threatening to feed a boy to alligators .

Dereck Dunn, who is not the boy's father but has children with his mother, is said to have made the terrifying threat before beating the eight-year-old.

According to the New York Daily News , an affidavit says the unnamed child and his young sister were left with Dunn at home in Florida.

The 28-year-old is then said to have taken the boy to the back garden and allegedly picked him up before making the threat to feed him to the reptiles.

The youngster claimed Dunn hit him and pushed his face into a carpet, leaving him gasping for air, before chasing him into a cupboard where he beat him with a belt.

The boy also claimed Dunn said he would buy him a dress and tiara .

According to court documents, the boy had “patterned injuries to his right cheek/eye area and patterned loop-shaped injuries to his buttocks, arms and legs”.

Dunn has denied hitting the boy with a belt and pushing the boy's head into a carpet but has admitted accidentally hitting the boy in the face while playing and hitting him with a belt a few days earlier.

The boy's mum, Andrea Pritchard, said she had seen Dunn hit her son on the bottom with his hand and claimed Dunn was joking when he suggested feeding the boy to alligators and dressing him like a girl.

Dunn remains jailed on $7,500 (£5,700) bond and has been ordered not to contact the boy. He’s been issued an order of no contact with the victim. He is due to appear in court on September 26.