Deltona, Florida — Three women were arrested for child abuse Friday after slapping, kicking, and choking a teen girl and then forcing her to take her clothes off so they could beat her with belts.
The women said they were disciplining the girl because she had been suspended from school.
Volusia County sheriff’s deputies responded to the Deltona home after an anonymous caller reported seeing the three women chasing the teen outside.
Shortly after noon, a caller reported a disturbance in the 500-block of Pemberton Avenue. The caller said three women were chasing and fighting a girl and they had all gone into a nearby house. When deputies arrived, they found the victim upset and crying in the home while wearing just a bra and panties. She had multiple bleeding cuts and severe welts all over her body.
Deputies reported that Ishiyah McGhee, 30, and Janine McGhee, 39, were also in the home. They were standing in the home holding belts and breathing heavily. A third woman, Moriyah McGhee, 32, was also involved in the incident, but was not at the scene when deputies arrived.
The teen was transported to the hospital while deputies investigated the incident. The 14-year-old girl was transported by EVAC ambulance to Florida Hospital Fish Memorial, Orange City, to be treated for multiple lacerations and severe welts. The girl was then turned over to the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Deputies learned that the girl (victim) and the three women had been to the girl’s school that morning for a meeting about the teen’s suspension. When the meeting was over, they all walked to the parking lot and the teen said that’s when the beating started. The women slapped the victim, shoved her against cars, and choked her by grabbing her necklace. They all then got into vehicles and left the school.
As they got close to the Pemberton Avenue house, the girl said she had jumped out of the vehicle and started running away so as to avoid further physical violence. According to reports, the women chased her and grabbed her by the hood of her sweatshirt, choking her. They then forced the victim into the house.
Once inside, Janine McGhee demanded that she and the victim fight, but the teen refused. The victim told deputies that the women then forced her to take her clothes off so that she would feel the pain. The women then repeatedly kicked, punched, and beat the victim with belts over her entire body until deputies arrived.
Janine, a Daytona Beach resident, and Ishiyah, a Deltona resident, were arrested at the scene for child abuse and taken to jail. Moriyah, a Deltona resident, turned herself in to deputies. She was also charged with child abuse and taken to jail.
The relationship between the girl and the three women cannot be released in order to protect the victim’s identity. Investigators said they are looking into whether or not child abuse has been an ongoing situation in the home.
All three women claimed they were only disciplining the girl and said they don’t feel they did anything wrong. Deputies said the women were more than happy to smile for their booking photos.