COURTLAND
A Courtland woman faces charges of felonious assault and abuse and neglect of a child. Southampton County Sheriff’s deputies booked La’Porche Richards, 27, at the Southampton County Jail on Sept. 13 after a deputy responded to a third-party report of possible child abuse in the Elizabeth Street neighborhood of Boykins on Sept. 8.

This information comes from Sgt. Camden Cobb of the department.

According to him, a deputy discovered a 2-year-old boy with multiple visible marks across his back, and the child is reported to have told the deputy that his mother, Richards, struck him with a cord. Deputies recovered a USB cable from the property and identified it as the cord used to strike the child.

Richards faces a total of three charges: malicious wounding, child abuse and neglect with serious injury, and contempt of court. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 3, in Southampton County’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

The Department of Social Services has been notified and the child has been placed in the custody of his godmother.