Details of alleged child abuse emerge

PALMER — A man who allegedly beat a 10-year-old girl with a metal stick, then strangled her with a belt was out on bail this week.

Kenji Yia Thao, 32, of Sutton was released from jail on $1,000 bail Sept. 21. Authorities indicted Thao Sept. 18 on one count of second-degree assault, two counts of third-degree assault and a single count of fourth-degree assault following an incident in Sutton Sept. 7, when the girl became angry that she couldn’t accompany her mother into Anchorage for the day, according to an affidavit written by Trooper David Russell.

Thao went inside their house along Joneseville Mine Road, got a metal stick, and hit the girl about the shoulders, then took off his belt and struck her on the back, then put his hands over her nose and mouth so she couldn’t breathe. The girl bit Thao’s hand, so Thao put the belt around her neck and strangled her, according to the affidavit.

“When the belt was around her neck she could not breathe,” Russell wrote. “She started to see little birds flying around. If (Thao) had continued to use his belt around her neck (the victim) would have died.”

Another minor relative said the girl told him the same thing, according to the affidavit.

The girl’s mother told Kenji Thao to stop or she would call the police, and he stopped, then told the girl “not to tell anyone about what happened or (the mother) would go to jail,” Russell wrote.

Troopers also questioned Thao about the incident.

“Kenji stated that he never touched (the victim) and that she is a naughty girl and runs around the place like goats making problems,” Russell wrote.

The girl’s mother told investigators she was inside talking to another relative when alleged beating took place.

“The reason that (the mother) told (the girl) not to tell anyone about what happened was because she was trying to scare her not to talk about it,” Russell wrote.

When the girl and her mother went home, the mother noticed some marks around the girl’s neck, and tried to put some cream on them.

“The reason (the mother) did not report the incident was because she does not know English very good and did not know what to do,” Russell wrote.

Thao overheard the mother’s account, and admitted to spanking the child with the leather part of his belt, and to manipulating her using his hands in the neck area, but said he had not used the belt around her neck, according to Russell.

The incident came to troopers’ attention when they were contacted by the Office of Children’s Services about the girl’s injuries.

Thao’s next court appearance is Oct. 20 at 9:30 a.m. in the Palmer Court before presiding judge Kari Kristiansen.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.