The stepmum of children found locked in cages has claimed she was scared for her life before her kids were found in what one nurse called the ‘worst case of abuse’ she had ever seen.
Amanda Stamper, 33 is facing seven charges of child abuse, six of whom were allegedly subjected to severe physical abuse.
Two of her children were found in a dog cage in the apartment in Las Vegas, Nevada.
‘I was scared for my life and my other kids and my family,’ she claimed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal when asked why she did not call police earlier than she did.
‘It’s hard for people to understand that unless you’re in that situation.’
She is facing the charges after cops rescued ‘six severely abused children’ in an apartment she shared with her husband Travis Doss on June 11.
‘It’s always been pretty bad. Anytime I tried to stand up for them though he would lash out at me,’ she claimed.
Doss, 31, has been charged with more then 40 offences, including multiple counts of child abuse and allegations of sex trafficking involving his wife.
He is alleged to have used his wife to earn money through sex.
Stamper and Doss have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them after they appeared in court on Tuesday.
Stamper, currently pregnant, later told 8 News Now that she herself was a victim of severe domestic abuse.
She said: ‘I was abused as well, not just them. He would use my children and my family if I was ever to call the police like he would go find my family and my kids, he’s just a really violent person’.
She told the Review-Journal the abuse stepped up in the weeks before cops found the apartment and claimed she reported the abuse to 911 dispatcher.
During a grand jury hearing, a detective testified Doss told police he had punished the boy for stealing food from the rubbish or fridge.
Stamer has claimed Doss used a heavy wok, belts or extension cords to beat his children.
