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A Georgia mother has been handed a 40-year prison sentence, the harshest penalty available under state law, following reports from an elementary school teacher that she physically abused her child by kicking, punching, and choking them.
On April 2, Candice Nicole McClure was found guilty of one count of aggravated assault and two counts of first-degree cruelty to children, as stated in a press release from the District Attorney’s Office.
McClure maintained her innocence, entering a plea of not guilty, according to court documents.
The allegations against McClure emerged in 2023 when her child confided in a Cherokee County elementary school teacher about being kicked, punched, and choked. This disclosure triggered an investigation by the Canton Police Department and the Division of Family & Child Services (DFCS).
An unexpected visit to McClure’s home by a DFCS worker revealed bruising on the child’s leg and a forehead injury. Photographs of these injuries led to a medical evaluation, where doctors concluded that the forehead mark was consistent with a beating from a belt, as detailed in the release.
Prosecutors claimed the child had been abused for quite some time, referencing medical evidence and photos from 2016 that revealed injuries to the then-4-year-old in another country.
At the sentencing, McClure’s child—accompanied by an adoptive parent, a victim advocate and a service dog named Parker—said no one deserves abuse, per the release, and thanked the jury for allowing them to be heard.
Assistant District Attorney David Bailey of the Special Victims Unit called the teachers who reported the abuse, “heroes,” according to the press release. “They recognized the signs of abuse and created a safe place for the child to come forward.”
Oxygen could not immediately reach an attorney for McClure for comment.