An Orange County mother who says she saw her 2-year-old son being beaten by his babysitter on their nanny cam earlier this month is breaking her silence about their ordeal and discusses a plea deal that prosecutors are offering the woman.
Video of the incident was given exclusively to News 12 but is too graphic and upsetting to show unedited.
The babysitter, Chantal Mason, is allegedly heard and seen on the video saying, “Be quiet. Lay your a** down and go to sleep,” as she allegedly slaps Kyshon Holmes’s body more than two dozen times and flips the crying toddler over beneath a baby blanket to push his body into a couch cushion during the attack.
The child’s cries are heard intensifying during the one-minute assault, which ends as the small boy is seen no longer crying or moving.
His mother Kristla Holmes watched the assault unfold on her nanny-camera while she was at work.
“You have to be an evil person to beat a 2-year-old like that," said Holmes. "When the cops came, she didn't show any remorse."
The mother of five says Mason was a family friend for 20 years who babysat many times before. She says since Mason’s arrest she’s been harassed on social media and threatened with violence.
A restraining order was issued preventing Mason from having contact with Kyshon but was not issued for Holmes or her other four children.
Prosecutors say Mason was offered a plea deal for the misdemeanor that would sentence her to 60 days in jail and 3 years’ probation. The toddler’s mother says that isn’t enough.
“I feel like that’s a slap on the wrist. She deserves to be in prison," said Holmes. "He has PTSD right now. He's traumatized and I'm upset. I feel like the justice system is not doing anything to help him."
The district attorney’s office says even in cases involving children, state law requires greater injuries for a charge to be upgraded to a felony.
Chantal Mason has another pending charge for allegedly attacking a woman with five other people last year. Mason’s attorney declined to comment about either case.