[News] Mum waterboarded baby and put him in freezer to test whether the baby’s dad cared or not

A mother has been imprisoned after waterboarding her baby and sticking him in a freezer to ‘test’ and see if the boy’s father cared.

Police responded to calls that a baby had been shoved in a freezer at an apartment in Gresham, Oregon, USA.

At the scene outside the home, police officers heard Sharday McDonald, 30, screaming at the baby’s father.

‘I’m about to show you real quick. You don’t want him?’ yelled McDonald, according to WPDE.

‘Let me show you about this little f***ing baby, I don’t f***ing give f*** about.’

The boy’s father later showed cops a video call he had with McDonald in which she held their son and appeared to be waterboarding him. The baby appeared to be holding his breath as water ran down his nose and face, according to a police officer.

 

McDonald was arrested and told police she was sorry for her actions and did them to see if the father ‘gave a f*** at all’. She said she thought that waterboarding their baby would prompt him to return.

The mother admitted that she put her baby under running water out of spite but that she did not plan to hurt or kill him by drowning or freezing him, court documents state.

Police detectives consulted with a paediatrician, who saw pictures of the October 2021 incident and said the boy would not have been able to breathe with water running into his nose and that he could face life-threatening complications.

McDonald was sentenced to 30 days in jail on Tuesday, September 19 for criminal mistreatment, tampering with a witness and identity theft. She is scheduled to be released on October 6, according to Multnomah County Detention Center records.