HOMESTEAD, Fla. — A 22-year-old woman who was arrested Tuesday for allegedly beating her boyfriend’s 5-year-old son so badly that he ended up in the emergency room is now facing new charges related to a second child.
According to an arrest report from the Homestead Police Department, Sarahi Azucena Gonzalez was initially arrested Tuesday on charges of child abuse without great bodily harm and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Investigators said a doctor at Baptist Health Homestead Hospital told them that the victim “was brought to the emergency department with various injuries” from the abuse, prompting police involvement. An arrest report doesn’t state who brought the boy there.
“The injuries appeared to be in various stages of healing and included the following: linear looped markings, abrasions and facial trauma with both of the victim’s eyes swollen and bruised,” the report states.
Police said Gonzalez, the boy’s father, Maurice Timothy Dukes, 36, and the victim’s 12-year-old cousin inflicted the injuries on him.
The victim’s aunt, Kiemaya Jackson, told Local 10 News through tears that the boy “had gashes, like he was whooped like a slave.”
“He had two big black eyes, his eyes were really swollen,” Jackson said. “The baby had bruises wrapped around his body from his neck all the way down to his feet, from the inner thighs.”
Authorities said both Dukes and Gonzalez admitted to beating the boy and admitted to not seeking medical attention.
Jackson said the boy had been in Dukes’ care since his mother, her niece, died several months ago.
“Every time we tried to hug him, he would flex like he was nervous,” Jackson said. “Paramedics, police, everybody cried. That baby went through a lot. He went through a lot.”
According to a separate arrest report obtained Thursday by Local 10 News, Gonzalez is facing additional charges of child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor because she ordered the 12-year-old boy to beat his little cousin with a belt after the younger child urinated on the floor.
Police said Gonzalez beat the 5-year-old boy with a broom and her fists before telling him to stand on the bed and face the wall.
Gonzalez then handed the 12-year-old boy a belt and ordered him to strike his cousin on the buttocks with it, authorities said.
According to the arrest report, the elder boy told police that he followed Gonzalez’s orders out of fear and claimed that she ordered him to “whoop him harder,” because she didn’t believe he was hitting the boy hard enough.
The 12-year-old said once Gonzalez was satisfied by the beating she instructed his cousin to shower and stand in the corner, the report stated.
Authorities said the elder boy told detectives he was too scared to call police or his parents after the abuse.
As of Thursday morning, Gonzalez was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Online jail records listed her total bond as “to bet set.” Dukes was no longer appearing in the online jail database.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
