Leonor Garcia (WPLG).
A girl took the stand in a Florida courtroom on Wednesday to accuse her babysitter of beating her with a metal spoon and remote control if she misstated a word during English language lessons.
The alleged beatings were so bad that the girl, then 7, had to have emergency surgery to alleviate a brain bleed. Leonor Garcia, 65, is on trial for child abuse with great bodily harm in Miami. The incident occurred on July 29, 2023, when the victim spent the day at Garcia's home, a probable cause arrest affidavit said.
Garcia called the girl's mother shortly before 8 p.m. to say the girl was injured while doing cartwheels and needed to go to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital, doctors determined she had a subdural hematoma and performed surgery to drain fluid from the girl's brain.
The girl later told detectives that Garcia beat her at least 13 times with a metal spoon, remote control or a phone when she incorrectly translated a word from Spanish to English. Garcia allegedly told the girl to blame the injuries on a fall from doing cartwheels, which she called a "lie."
"I tried to cry, but she would tell me not to because if I cried she would tell me she was going to hit me," the girl testified, according to a courtroom report from local ABC affiliate WPLG. "One time she threatened me with, like, pliers, and if I told my mother anything, she was going to pull my eye out."
In addition to the brain bleed, she also suffered a black eye and bruises on her shoulder. A pediatrician testified the girl's injuries were not consistent with suffering a fall.
"Our opinion was that it was physical abuse," Dr. Walter Lambert reportedly told jurors.
Garcia's trial remains ongoing as of Thursday.