Ellensburg man arrested for assault, two kids taken to Harbor View
ELLENSBURG POLICE DEPT. NEWS RELEASE -- On January 31, 2012 the Ellensburg Police Department learned that two children, ages four and eight, had been assaulted by their mother’s boyfriend. The children suffered injuries so severe and traumatic that they were transferred from KVCH to Harbor View Hospital in Seattle, the 4 year old girl was airlifted with possible internal bleeding and the 8 year old was transported by KVFR.
The children’s mother, 23 year old Ashly Eli, admitted witnessing the assaults committed by her boyfriend, 27 year old Rueben Mulamba. Eli also admitted that she intentionally did not take the children to the hospital for almost 48 hours for fear of law enforcement involvement. She in fact had no plans to seek medical treatment for the children before Detectives became involved. The assaults took place several times over the past two weeks.
Mulamba was booked into the Kittitas County Corrections Center for two counts of Assault of a Child 2nd degree. Eli was also booked and charged with two counts of Criminal Mistreatment. Additional charges may be forthcoming based upon further medical examinations of the children. Both children were taken into protective custody by EPD Detectives and turned over to the custody of Child Protective Services.
As of this morning the 4 year old girl is in critical condition and the 8 year old boy is in stable condition at Harborview Medical Center. Both children have lacerations, bruises and infected wounds as a result of the injuries sustained from the repeated assaults.
This is the second case in a month involving the arrest of parents for assaulting their children and then refusing to seek medical attention for the child’s injury. Both cases involved gruesome details though the physical injuries on these 2 children reveal severe chronic physical abuse.
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