MIAMI – A 2-year-old girl was in a downtown Miami courtroom Thursday, one day after police announced the arrest of her Russian tourist father, who’s accused of beating her as his family visited South Florida.
A Miami-Dade judge ordered she be kept away from her father, Andrei Sevastianov, who’s facing eight felony child abuse charges and was ordered held without bond.
Police said the abuse happened Tuesday evening at the La Perla Condos at 16699 Collins Ave. in Sunny Isles Beach and was caught on camera.
They said Sevastianov, 37, was seen on video kicking, slamming and appearing to choke the little girl.
Police said he later told investigators that she was “being fussy.”
Appearing in court, the girl ― who had been taken to the hospital after her father’s arrest ― smiled and scampered around as she was handed toys.
She had a bandage on her arm.
The family was visiting South Florida and was supposed to return to Russia on June 12.
However, a criminal court judge ordered Sevastianov to be jailed without bond and a judge in Thursday’s dependency hearing at the Miami-Dade Children’s Courthouse ordered the family to surrender their Russian passports.
Under the judge’s ruling, the girl will be allowed to stay with her younger sibling and mother, provided a safety plan outlined by the Florida Department of Children and Families is followed, which includes the presence of a safety monitor.
Sevastianov was ordered to have no contact with his children after he appeared in court Wednesday.
The children’s court judge ruled Thursday that if the stay-away order is lifted and modified by the court, he would be allowed to see the children twice a week for supervised, hour-and-a-half visits.
Neither Sevastianov‘s attorney nor his wife would comment on the case.