CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — An 11-year-old boy stabbed his uncle with scissors to get him to stop beating the boy’s mother, according to sheriff’s deputies in Florida.
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies said the boy feared for his mother’s life during the attack last Saturday.
Deputies said 44-year-old Panagiotis Karamanlis pulled his sister’s hair, held her to the ground and punched her in the face multiple times after they got into an argument over text messages she had sent to her boyfriend.
The siblings lived in the same home, and the attack took place in front of the woman’s two children, ages 10 and 11.
Karamanlis denied punching the woman, but she had bruises on her face, according to an arrest affidavit.
Karamanlis was charged with battery and child abuse. The extent of his injuries wasn’t clear.
Online court records showed there was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold on Karamanlis. No attorney was listed for him.
Karamanlis told deputies after being arrested that he intended to leave Florida and go back to Greece. He was being held in jail without bond, according to the arrest report.
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